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EXCURSIONS 



TO 



CAIRO, JERUSALEM, 
DAMASCUS AND 

B AL B E C, 

FROM THE 

UNITED STATES SHIP DELAWARE, 

DURING HER RECENT CRUISE. 
WITH AN 

ATTEMPT TO DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN TRUTH AND ERROR IN 
REGARD TO THE SACRED PLACES OF THE 

HOLY CITY. 



BY GEORGE JONES, A. M. ' 

CHAPLAIN U. S. NAVY; AUTHOR OF SKETCHES OF NAVAL LIFE. 



NEW-YORK : 
VAN NOSTRAND AND D WIGHT. 
1836. 




Entered according to the Act of Congress of the United States of 
America, in the year 1836, by Van Nostrand and Dwight, in the 
Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New- York. 



SCATCHERD AND ADAMS, 

PRINTERS, 

38 Gold Street. 



COMMODORE D. T. PATTERSON, 

U. S. NAVY, 
THIS MEMORIAL 

OF SOME INCIDENTS IN A VERY AGREEABLE CRUISE 
UNDER HIS COMMAND, 
IS INSCRIBED, 

WITH THE RESPECTFUL AND GRATEFUL REGARDS OF 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 



The Author had no intention during the cruise of wri- 
ting such a book. His reasons for now engaging in it 
are, in addition to those common on such occasions, a 
belief that the public take a very deep interest in the coun- 
tries which he has visited, and would be pleased to have 
further means of information respecting them. The cir- 
cumstances under which his excursions into Egypt and 
Syria were made, though limiting his observations to a few 
cities, gave him some unusual advantages in examining 
those to which he was allowed access. 

The reader, he believes, will be surprised to see the 
changes which the energetic government of Mohammed 
Ali has wrought in Egypt and Syria ; and these are only 
the beginning of changes. The whole East seems destined 
before long to a wonderful revolution, if not political, at 
least mental and moral. It is pleasing to see the present 
dawnings of light upon two countries the most celebrated 
in the world ; the one for its ancient science, the other for 
its religion. The night appears to be past, and the day- 
spring at hand. 

The Author has given a chapter on Jerusalem, which 
may appear to some of his readers better suited to a book 
of romance than of travels. His object was to place vivid- 
ly before the reader the ancient city, which he believes to 
have had a splendor and a beauty of which few persons 
are aware. Though the scene is supposed to be raised 
up by a spell of fancy, yet there is nothing presented in 

1 



11 



PREFACE. 



the picture for which there is not authority in ancient 
writers, with the single exception of the arrangement of 
the hymns at the Paschal sacrifice. 

The author, for reasons not necessary to be stated here? 
kept no journal during this cruise ; but the events and 
scenes occurring in these visits made an impression so 
deep that the memory has kept a record of them suffi- 
ciently faithful. At the commencement of his attempt to 
put them on paper, he wrote to Commodore Patterson to 
ascertain whether such a design would meet with his ap- 
probation ; and the Commodore, in a very kind letter in 
reply, was good enough to offer him the use of his own 
private journal and of his official letters. From these 
he has drawn much valuable statistical matter as well as 
hints on other subjects ; and he takes this mode of publicly 
making his acknowledgments for the favor. 

Through oversight, the year of these visits has not 
been mentioned in the body of the work ; they were made 
in the year 1834. 



INDEX. 



EGYPT. 

CHAPTER I. 

Approach to Egypt, Plague in Alexandria. Determination to visit 
Cairo and the Pyramids. Boghaz Bey. Canal of Mahmoudieh. 
Policy of Mohammed Ali. The abject state of his subjects, 
and his apology for it. Night on the Canal. First view of the 
Nile. Angelina's opinion of it. Page 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Boats on the Nile. Our enjoyments on the river. Water of the 
Nile. Villages. Ovens for hatching chickens. Egyptian bricks, 
and case of the Israelites. Singular costume of the females. 
Thievish boatmen. First view of the Pyramids. Stupendous 
undertaking of Mohammed Ali at the Barage. Approach to 
Cairo. Moonlight scene. 25 

CHAPTER III. 
Cross to Boulac. Splendid hospitality of the government. Our 
cavalcade. Kindness of Mr. Gliddon. Description of his house. 
The Baldac. 44 

CHAPTER IV. 
Visit to the Governor of Cairo. Court of the Mamelukes. Their 
massacre. Schools in the Citadel. Court of Justice. Palace of 
the Pasha. View from it. The " City of Tombs." A human 
monster. Plain of Memphis. Heliopolis. Mosque of the 
bloody baptism. Joseph's Well. Mint. Manufactory of Arms. 
The Citadel. " The Lions." 50 

CHAPTER V. 

Visit to the Cotton factories. Iron foundries. Palace of Ibrahim 
Pasha. English garden on an island in the Nile. Stables of 
Ibrahim Pasha. Arabian horses. Bazaars. Slave market. 
Madhouse. The maniac butcher. 67 

CHAPTER VI. 
Preparations to visit the Pyramids. Audience of leave with the 
Governor of Cairo. Visit of the ladies of our party to the Sultana. 
Description of the Harem. 77 

CHAPTER VII. 
Visit to the Pyramids. Their diminutive appearance as we ap- 
proached. Effect when we reached the base. Pyramid of Cheops. 



iv 



INDEX. 



Visit to the interior. Pyramid of Cephrenes. Belzoni's forced 
passage. His successful researches. Large stone enclosure east 
of this Pyramid. Tombs adjoining on the west. Dine in one of 
them. 84 
CHAPTER VIII. 
Some interesting facts in our own country in connexion with these 
Pyramids. Pyramids of Micocatl in Mexico, and of Gtuanhua- 
huac and Cholula. Their history. Notices of a deluge, and con- 
fusion of languages, in the picture writing of Mexico. Pyramids 
in the Polynesian islands. u High Places " of Scripture. Tem- 
ple of Belus. Universality of this kind of structure explained. 
Our western mounds. View from the Pyramids of Ghizeh. The 
Sphinx. Visit to the plain of Memphis, and to the Military and 
Naval School at Toura. 96 

CHAPTER IX. 

Rest on the Sabbath, Visit to the Pasha's summer residence at 
Shubra. Exceeding beauty of the ground. Lake, and sports of 
"the Pasha. Pic-nic in one of the Kiosks. Pear tree from the 
Pasha's place of nativity. Brief history of Mohammed Ali. 
Departure from Cairo. Regret at parting with Mr. Gliddon. 112 

CHAPTER X. 

Return to Alexandria. Ruins about that city. Pompey's pillar. 
Cleopatra's needles. Modern improvements in Alexandria. Ar- 
senal. Harbor of Alexandria. Rail road to Suez. New law for 
protecting the people. Presentation to the Pasha. Description 
of his person. 119 



SYRIA. 

CHAPTER XL 

First view of the coast of Judea. Anxieties as we approached. 
State of the Country. Recent Rebellion. Investment of Jerusa- 
lem. Character of the Natives. Earthquakes. Taking of the 
City. English and American Missionaries. Death of Mrs. 
Thompson. Defeat of Ibrahim Pasha. Re-capture of the City. 
Conscription. Strange conduct of our Consul at Jaffa. He is 
dismissed from Office. Jaffa. Large clusters of Grapes. Eastern 
Story-tellers. Gardens and Watermelons of Jaffa. The Cactus. 129 

CHAPTER XII. 

Start for Jerusalem, Appearance of our Cavalcade. Djerid play 
near Jaffa. Plain of Sharon. Night ride. Ramla. The Cadi's 
theory about Earthquakes. Beth-Horon. Entrance to the Hill- 
Country. Aboo Ghoosh. David's Brook. First view of Jeru- 
salem. Difficulty in getting accommodations. Greek Monastery, 
distressful night. 146 



INDEX. 



V 



CHAPTER XIII. 
Morning view of the city. Glance at the localities. Question with 
regard to the place of the Crucifixion. Its practical nature. Scene 
usually sketched in the mind. The event probably more humiliating 
in its attendant circumstances. Traditions forced upon the visitor 
to Jerusalem. Their effect on the mind. Danger of such visits 
to those who will not separate truth from error. il El Devoto 
Peregrino." Dr. Clarke. 167 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Localities in Jerusalem that are certain. Valley of Kedron. Mount 
Moriah. Valley of the Cheesemongers. Mount Zion, its ancient 
limits. Present remains of its northern boundary. Line of the 
" Old wall." Acra. Gate of the Gardens. Limits of the city at the 
time of the crucifixion. Bezetha and the wall of Agrippa. Monu- 
ment of John. Whither our judgment, unassisted by tradition, 
leads us as regards the place of the crucifixion. Rocky Knoll. Not 
called Mount Calvary in the Scriptures. Tradition. Conclusion 
to which all this leads us. Circumstances and scene of the cruci- 
fixion. The question with regard to the spot of our Saviour's 
burial. 179 

CHAPTER XV. 

Commencement of our visits. Hospital of the knights of St. John. 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Reputed tomb of the Saviour. 
Marble sarcophagus. Effect of this visit on us. Question whe- 
ther this is the real tomb, or only a representation of it. Re- 
moval of the floor two centuries since. Greek chapel " the centre 
of the world." Origin of the various incredible traditions. 
Charity to be exercised. Cave where the cross is said to have 
been discovered. Fissure in the rock. Tradition about the head 
of Adam. Calvary. Holes for the crosses. Another fissure in 
the rock. The humiliation in the tomb, and resurrection. 202 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Dimensions of the Modern City. Ground within the city, and in 
its environs. Its picturesque appearance. Continuation of our 
visits. Via Dolorosa. Sentence of the Saviour from Salignatius. 
House of Veronica and Picture of the Napkin. House of " the 
Rich Man." Arch of the Ecce Homo. Pilate's House. Mosque 
of Omar. The Locked-up Stone. Pool of Bethesda. Place of 
Stephen's Martyrdom. The Golden Gate. The Emperor Hera- 
clius in a dilemma. 222 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Valley of Hinnom. Potter's field. Singular properties attributed 
to its earth. Will not act^ on the citizens of Rome. Gloomy 
character of the valley. Job's well. Pool of Siloam. Fountain 
of Siloam. Periodical in its flow. Stones and columns belong- 
ing probably to the court of the ancient temple. Monuments of 
Zaohariah and Absalom. Tomb of Jehoshaphat. Burial-place 
of the Jews. Valley of Jehoshaphat. View of the Mount of 
Olives, Plain of Jordan, and the Dead Sea. Garden of Geth- 
semane. Tomb of the Virgin. Tradition about her death and 
ascension. 233 
1* 



¥1 



INDEX. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
Visit to the Mount of Olives to procure olive root. Cabinet work 
from it. Attempt r by a Fancy spell, to raise up again the ancient 
city of Jerusalem. Its appearance. Fortifications. Towers. 
Royal palace. Stupendous wall supporting the Courts of the 
Temple. Outer Cloister. Solomon's Porch. Court of the Gen- 
tiles. Inner Cloister. Gate called " Beautiful." Court of the Jews. 
Court of the Priests. Altar. The TEMPLE. Its dazzling 
fagade. Noble entrance. Skill of the Architect. Vestibule. 
Grape-vine of Gold. The Sanctuary. Its furniture. Holy of 
Holies. Effect of this place on Pompey. Walls of the edifice. 
Stones of amazing size. Frame work of the city. Villages and 
gardens around. Effect of the contrast between the Temple and 
Mount of Olives. The millions coming up to the Passover. 
Their Hymns. The Roman army. Titus takes a view of the 
city. Events foretelling its doom. The horror-stricken prophet. 251 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Visit to Bethlehem. Well of the Star. Monastery of Elijah. 
Rachael's Tomb. Plain of the Shepherds. Town of Bethlehem. 
Character of its inhabitants. Church and Cave of the Nativity. 
Traditions. The Turpentine Tree, &c. Manufactures of the 
Bethlehemites. Tattooing. Country northward from Jerusalem. 
Cave of Jeremiah. Hill of Bezetha. Tombs of the Kings. Dr. 
Clarke's subterranean Chapels. Ancient quarries. Tombs of the 
Judges. Thorn from which the Saviour's crown is supposed to have 
been made. Difficulty at the Gates. Yaoub and the Soldiers. 279 

CHAPTER XX. 
Departure of the first party. Mohammed Ali's firman, and alarm 
of the Governor. Sickness of Mr. M. and Mr. Nicholayson. 
Trials of Missionaries. Their general character and qualifica- 
tions. Moonlight view of Jerusalem, and reflections. Arrival 
of the second party. Interview with the Governor. Visit to Beth- 
any. Departure from Jerusalem. 294 

CHAPTER XXL 

Accident on our return. Visit to St. Jean D'Acre. Also to Tyre. 
Prophecies respecting Tyre fulfilled. Visit to Sidon. Lady 
Hester Stanhope. Her letter of invitation to us. Visit to her 
residence at D'joun. Beirout. Missionary families at Beirout. 
Striking feature in the Protestant Missionary operations. Their 
schools and printing presses. 308 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Party to Damascus. Ascent of Mount Lebanon. The roads; 
English carriage. Scenery of the mountain. Its inhabitants, 
Maronites. The Druses. Aaleih. Horns worn by the women. 
Princesses of the mountain. Beautiful night scene. Bhamdoon. 
Plain of Coelo-Syria. Anti-Lebanon. Characteristic of Ameri- 
cans. A dilemma. First view of Damascus. The great plain. 
Gardens. The city. " Street that is called Straight." St. Paul 324 



INDEX. 



vii 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
Late fanaticism of the people of Damascus. Change. Mr. Far- 
rah's house. Agreeable disappointment. Costume of the natives. 
The Cobcob. Mr. Farran, the English Consul General. Visit 
to the palaces. Palaces of Abdallah Bey, &c. Official visit to 
the Governor, Sheriff Pasha. Handsome reception. Promises 
of the Pasha with respect to Americans in Syria. Mr. Farran's 
beautiful country residence. Bazaars. Damascus blades — not 
to be had. Departure from the city . Night at Mr. Farran's. 341 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Sunrise on the plain of Damascus. Mountain Mosque. Super- 
stition of the natives of Damascus. Mountain course of the Bar- 
rady. Tomb of Abel. Fountain of Rosalyn. Toils of travel, 
Comforts on the road to Pompeii. Ruins of Balbec. The great 
Temple and its courts. Stones of prodigious size. A gem in Ar- 
chitecture. The circular Temple. Gleanings with regard to 
their history. Pasha of Balbec. Marshal Bourmont. Cedars 
of Lebanon. TownofZahle. Night in our tents on Lebanon, 
Attack by the natives. Return to the ship. 360 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Sensation produced by the Delaware. Effect of this visit on the 
cause of Missions in Syria. Service on the Sabbath on board, 
and the crowds attending. Crowds attracted by this Ship during 
her whole Cruise. Appearance of the Ship. Her effect on the 
Visitors. Progress of free principles throughout the World. The 
cause of Humanity secure. Our own Country, and its Prosper- 
ity, Adieu to the reader, 382 



ERRATA. 



The Reader is requested to make the following corrections : 
Page 105, line 12, for " ten' 5 substitute one hundred. 



106, . 


• 14, 


.. " case" 


cause. 


Ill, . 


. 13, 


.. "are" 


were. 


114, . 


• % 


" water" 


lake. 


153, . 


. 22, 


.. " extensive" 


extreme. 


155, . 


. 26, 


strike out " thirty miles from Jerusalem. 


159, . 


. 27, 


for " whirling" 


read wheeling. 


311, 


. 29, 


" filled' 5 read piled, 



EGYPT. 



EXCURSIONS 

TO 

CAIRO, JERUSALEM, &c. 



CHAPTER L 

Approach to Egypt. Plague in Alexandria. Determination to visit 
Cairo and the Pyramids. Boghaz Bey. Canal of Mahmoudieh. 
Policy of Mohammed Ali. The abject state of his subjects, 
and his apology for it. Night on the Canal. First view of the 
Nile. Angelina's opinion of it. Ex-Dey of Algiers. 

" Land O !" was cried from our mast-head on 
the morning of the 13th of July ; and at the end of 
an hour, a dim yellow line, resting on the southern 
horizon, might be discovered from our elevated decks. 
When another hour had expired, a high misty ob- 
ject, that had drawn our attention, had taken distinct- 
ness of outline, and was known to be Pompey's Pil- 
lar. By this time also the narrow strip of sand form- 
ing the coast had begun to be ruffled, and soon after 
the city of Alexandria, its domes, minarets, palaces, 
and shipping, came into view. Notwithstanding the 
evidence of life and activity that had now presented 
itself, the scene was a melancholy one. Far off on 
either side stretched the low, sandy coast, its uni- 
form outline unbroken except by a few insignificant 
ruins ; not a tree or shrub, not a speck of verdure, 
was to be anywhere seen ; while back from the 
coast the atmosphere seemed to be on fire ; a deep 

2 



14 EGYPT. 

red glare, covering all the land, and ascending far up 
towards the zenith. 

This was our first impression with regard to Egypt- 
and the second was by no means a more favorable 
one. Our ship was anchored about three miles 
from the shore, and the schooner Shark, our consort 
on this occasion, was directed to proceed into the 
harbor, with an invitation to the U. S. consul, 
Mr. J. Gliddon, to come on board. When he ar- 
rived, he informed us that two cases of what seemed 
to be the plague had appeared eight days previously 
in the Greek convent, and had excited some alarm : 
he added, however, that the building had been put 
in strict quarantine, and as the disease had extended 
no further, and the symptoms were not of a decided 
character, their fears had subsided, and that they 
were in hopes of enjoying their usual health. Their 
expectations were encouraged by the fact that the 
country had for many years been exempted from 
this dreadful disease.* Mohammed Ali was at this 
time in Syria, whither he had been called to assist in 
putting down a rebellion, which had suddenly burst 
out there. Mr. Gliddon strongly urged the Com- 
modore to await his return : and informed us, that in 

* They were too sanguine. Soon after our visit the plague 
broke out at Alexandri and raged with a violence that has scarcely 
ever had a parallel. In the town of Atfour on the Nile, which* 
when we passed it, had 40,000 inhabitants, in the course of a few 
months only 1500 remained. Some had fled, but far the greater 
part had been carried off by the disease. It swept quite through 
the land from the sea-coast to the interior, sparing neither city nor 
village, and was everywhere unusually fatal.. 



DETERMINATION TO VISIT CAIRO. 15 

the mean time we could visit Cairo and the Pyra- 
mids with perfect safety, as that city and the inter- 
mediate country were free from sickness, and our 
route would not carry us through Alexandria or ex- 
pose us to contact with its inhabitants. 

It was with the most sincere pleasure that we 
learned that Commodore Patterson had decided in 
favor of this excursion. Dim land of embalmed and 
faded greatness, that, from th ; searments of the 
tomb, dost murmur to us in solemn and mystic lan- 
guage, we should see thee then ! we should stand 
on the banks of the Nile, where even Nature her- 
self is shrouded in unusual obscurity : we should 
look down from the summits o^ the Pyramids, those 
monuments on which all ages have gazed with won- 
der, and where they have speculated in vain. I had 
myself just been living in a squatter's cabin in In- 
diana, and anticipated with keen relish the strong 
contrast that would here be presented. I had come 
from witnessing the first elements of society forming 
into order, to see the monuments of a people ancient 
even in the most ancient times ; from watching the 
conflicts of separate individual interests, to behold the 
* vast expanse of ages and nations from wander- 
ing amid the primeval solitudes of nature, to wander 
amid the solitudes of deserted cities ; and from witness- 
ing the first efforts for human greatness to contem- 
plate its end. 

Mohammed Ali had left as his representative, Bog- 
haz Bey, an Armenian of talent and energy, who en- 



16 



EGYPT* 



joys his highest confidence ; and while preparations 
were making for our journey, the Commodore, with 
Oapt. Nicolson and Mr. Gliddon, went to pay him a 
visit of ceremony. On application being made to him 
for passports to Cairo, he replied, that they would be 
unnecessary ; that he would consider Com. Patterson 
as the guest of the Pasha, and, as soon as we should 
start, would forward orders by telegraph to the river , 
to have boats provided, and to Cairo to have the 
party treated with every attention. 

On the 16th we transferred ourselves, together 
with conveniences for cooking and sleeping, to the 
decks of the schooner, and were landed towards 
evening near the mouth of the great canal of Mah- 
rnoudieh. This canal was the first of the many 
proofs which our journey led us to witness of the 
wonderful enterprize and energy of Mohammed Ali ? 
whom the reader, when he has followed us fur- 
ther, will, I think, agree with us in considering 
one of the greatest sovereigns of the age. In some 
respects we must also allow his government to be 
marked by singular short-sightedness and weak- 
ness ; but on this point it is only fair to let him 
speak for himself, which we shall presently allow him 
to do. 

The traveller through Egypt is constantly struck 
with two things : one, the high state of improve- 
ment in all public institutions, and the energy with 
which they are conducted ; and the other, the vassal- 
age, the extremely abject state of the people. No sub- 



STATE OF THE NATIVE PEOPLE. 17 

jects in the world are in such a wretched condition as 
those of the Egyptian Pasha. They have the appear- 
ance of freedom, but throughout the whole country 
every man is a slave to the royal master. They till 
the land and may call the produce theirs ; but when 
it is gathered in, he compels them to carry it to his 
store-houses, and there he purchases it at his own 
prices, which are just sufficient to keep them from a 
miserable death. The stores thus accumulated he 
sells all over Europe, wherever a good market can 
be procured ; the money is laid out chiefly in the 
support of his army and navy, and thus the avails 
of their labor are returned to the poor wretches in 
the shape of the " nezzam," or soldiers to keep them 
in subjection. Of course they hate both the Pasha 
and all his armed forces most cordially ; but for this 
he cares nought, and thus we have the spectacle of 
a nation apparently prosperous, but in reality ex- 
tremely miserable. He is so severe in his exactions, 
that if a cultivator wishes to plant a tree, he must 
provide an equ ivalent for the ground it may occupy - 
and in one village up the Nile, where we stopped to 
get vegetables, they informed us that they had none 
for themselves. The last season their grounds, they 
said, had not yielded the quantity of grain required, 
and this year they had been compelled to convert 
their gardens into wheat fields, in order to make up 
the deficiency. 

The annual revenue of the Pasha from all these 
sources amounts in ordinary seasons to twenty-five. 

2* 



18 



EGYPT* 



and in very fruitful years to thirty millions of dol- 
lars. In his own personal expenses he may be con- 
sidered very moderate ; and nearly the whole of this 
immense income is expended in public improvements, 
and in the pay and equipment of his army and navy. 
The former consists of 80,000 men, well disciplined, 
and efficient, and strongly attached to their duties 
and to the Pasha ; the navy at present consists of 
11 one hundred gun ships and as many frigates, 
afloat, and is to be increased to 40 vessels, chiefly of 
the largest class. The public improvements through- 
out the country evince an enlargement of mind and 
an energy of character that in an eastern sovereign 
is wonderful, especially when we consider that in 
most of his operations the Pasha has no one to 
second him, but devises and executes by the force 
of his own individual energy ; and very often has 
to give a personal superintendence to his operations. 
With regard to the abject state of his subjects, he 
says it is a necessary one, and is lamented by him- 
self as much as by any other person. His power 
is unstable ; he has lately gained a kind of slippery 
independence, is closely watched by his former 
master, the Sultan, and, without a large army 
and navy, his throne would soon slide from under 
him. His improvements, too, he says, must be carried 
on with untiring assiduity, or they will result in little 
good. His own life will probably not be continued 
much longer, and if they are not well advanced 
towards completion before his death, they will all be 



POLICY OF THE PASHA. 



19 



an abortion, and the country will retrograde to its 
late state of inferiority, and be again behind the 
character of the age. And in this he is correct ; for 
his step-son, Ibrahim Pasha, who will doubtless be 
his successor, is altogether devoted to military affairs, 
and cares little for manufactories, unless they be of 
arms and munitions of war. " Therefore," argues 
the Pasha, (or thus at least argued the governor of 
Cairo for him at our first interview,) " therefore I 
must drive matters with the utmost speed, and to do 
this I must have a large revenue, and to obtain this 
I must lay heavy burdens on my subjects." He says, 
however, that as soon as the cause of these exactions 
is removed, and his power secured, and his improve- 
ments sufficiently advanced to fear no relapse, he 
will make his people comfortable ; and that in the 
interval, by means of schools and his own exam- 
ple, he is endeavoring to inform them, and to stimu- 
late them to higher views of things than they have 
hitherto had, and greatly to increase the resources of 
the country . Thus speaks the new monarch of Egypt, 
and I have thought it best to give the reader at once 
an insight into his views, in order that he may be able 
the better to judge of them as we proceed through 
the country. 

We now return to the canal of Mahmoudieh. 
Fifteen years ago there was a scarcity of grain in 
Europe, but a great abundance in Egypt, and the 
merchant-sovereign had an opportunity of realizing 
an extremely handsome profit on the products of his 



20 



EGYPT. 



soil ; but the Nile happened at that season to be un- 
usually low, and vessels found it so difficult to load 
at the mouth of the river, that his harvest of gain 
was in a great measure lost. He then conceived the 
idea of a canal to unite the river with the secure and 
excellent harbor of Alexandria. With him there is 
but a short interval between planning and executing. 
He sent his soldiers into the country with requisi- 
tions on the various governors for men, according 
to the size of their villages or districts. The poor 
natives were hunted up, and being fastened to long 
poles by iron collars around the neck, forty to a pole, 
were thus driven down to the line marked out by 
his engineer, and there set to work. Mr. Gliddon, 
who saw the work in progress, informed me that 
there were 150,000 men employed upon it at one time. 
In six months the canal was completed, with the 
exception of a little masonry, and was opened for use. 
It is sixty miles in length, ninety feet wide, and 
eighteen in depth, including six feet of water. The 
workmen had no tools, except a few hoes to break 
the hard upper crust : when this had been done, they 
scraped the earth together with their fingers, formed 
it into balls, and passed them by hand to the sides 
of the canal, a large portion of the wet mass often 
escaping between their hands while on the way. 
Exposed to the sun, and without shelter at night, 
and probably without sufficient food, disease crept 
in among them ; and I was credibly informed that dur- 
ing the digging, 30,000 of the workmen perished : 



NIGHT ON THE CANAL. 



21 



their bodies, as soon as life was extinct, were tossed 
upon the growing heaps of earth at the side, and this 
was their burial. The canal follows the line of that 
dug by Alexander the Great, till near Damanhour, 
when it unaccountably makes a great bend to the 
south. The engineer has made another blunder in 
the grading, in consequence of which it is too shal- 
low to be navigable during the two months when 
the river is at the lowest. 

Mr. Gliddon, whose kindness on this and other oc- 
casions has placed us under many obligations, had se- 
cured boats for us, and towards sunset our arrange- 
ments for the inland voyage were completed. We then 
hoisted the American ensign at the peaks of our little 
flotilla, and dropping the large sails to a fresh and fa- 
vorable breeze, the city and its shipping soon glided 
from our sight. After passing near the elevated 
ground on which stands Pompey's Pillar, and then 
by a few country-seats of the nobles of Alexandria, 
we entered upon an open, dreary waste, and night 
began soon after to sink around us, and upon the 
still and melancholy scene ; for, except our rushing 
boats, not a sight nor a sound met the senses, which 
soon became actually oppressed by the solitude. A 
dim moon threw a flickering and uncertain light 
upon the banks, and it required but little effort of the 
imagination, as we watched them flitting by, to make 
out shadowy forms, and cover the place with the 
phantoms of the many poor victims sacrificed and 
buried there. 

But had they actually risen up, the whole 30,000, 



22 EGYPT. 

and pointed their bony fingers and gibbered at us as 
we passed, they would scarcely have exceeded in num- 
bers or terror the blood-thirsty tormentors that soon 
after this assailed us in the little cabins in our boats. 
We had extinguished our lights and laid down for 
repose, but repose there was none for us. The rea- 
der must excuse me if I draw such a nauseous pic- 
ture ; it is not fair that he should travel without 
sharing some of the pains of travelling, nor can he 
otherwise get a correct idea of the country. We 
soon found ourselves literally covered with vermin, 
whose bite, though dreadfully annoying, left us un- 
certain whether they were the animal that some- 
times chooses our beds for their residence, or those 
that constituted the third plague of Egypt ; and dur- 
ing the long night, while stung almost to madness, 
we were left to weigh the evidence in this agreeable 
query. The latter insects are, at certain seasons, com- 
mon in every part of Egypt ; and Sir Sidney Smith, 
having removed his tent to the desert, in order to 
escape from them, found them even among its sands. 
It was really quite a relief to us, when morning 
came, to find that our clothes were thickly sprinkled 
over with only the former less terrible insect. It was 
a long and wearisome night. I climbed the mast 
once or twice to cool my blood and seek for relief by 
gazing around ; but only a flat, and utterly deserted 
country met the sight, and the ear could not detect 
a single sound ; the hooting of an owl would have 
been a pleasant relief. 

Morning did come at last ; and as the sun began 



FIRST VIEW OF THE NILE. 23 

to throw its welcome beams over the landscape, if 
landscape it may be called, the banks of mud border- 
ing the canal grew higher, and receded on either 
side, until presently we found ourselves in a kind of 
basin, and soon after amid a multitude of boats. 
We had arrived at its termination. Casting our 
eyes on the left bank, where there seemed to be 
something in motion, we were able, by and by, to de- 
tect a village stuck into its side ; the houses, or ra- 
ther the single small chamber forming each house, be- 
ing made partly by digging into the bank, and partly 
by building up a low wall of mud, with an opening 
in its front for a door. They were covered with 
reeds, and these again with mud. Creeping in and 
out, were a swarm of natives, in soiled habiliments, 
as dark looking as the houses themselves. This, to- 
gether with some store-houses of the Pasha at the 
gate of the canal, and a few more decent dwellings 
on the banks of the river, form the village of Atf. 
On the right bank of the canal was a well paved 
quay, lined with boats, and covered with heaps of grain. 

We ascended the steep, high banks on the right of 
this quay, — and had before us the Nile. 

I believe we shall not soon forget the impression 
it made on us ; for it is, there, a beautiful river, and 
its effect was heigthened by contrast with the dull r 
monotonous scene presented by the black sides of 
the canal and the deserted country around. The 
Nile is about as wide as the Connecticut at Hartford 
or the Ohio at Cincinnati ; it flowed here at our feet 



24 



EGYPT. 



in grace! ul and beautiful curves. In front of us was 
an island, low and flat, but covered with millet, and 
with shrubs and plants of the most intense verdure. 
A little higher up, on the opposite bank, from amid 
a mass of houses, towered the domes and picturesque 
minarets of Atfour, a city of 40,000 inhabitants, 
with a large building like a palace at its upper edge. 
Just above this was another island covered with 
trees, which were dipping their foliage into the waters, 
and behind which the river was lost to our sight. 
On our own side the view was less interesting. 
Only a few trees dotted the banks, and in the inte- 
rior, the dreary stretch of flat, waste land was inter- 
rupted only by the deceitful mirage or imitation of 
water. 

While some of the party were looking down on 
the river in high admiration of its modern beauties, 
or lost in meditations on its ancient fame, old Cata- 
lina, the Mahonese woman who attended on the 
Commodore's family, approached. Catalina had 
never seen any thing larger than the rivulet which 
flows near her native city, and is much frequented 
by the Mahonese washerwomen. The company 
watched her in order to enjoy her surprise. She 
was, indeed, surprised. When she had a little re- 
covered from her astonishment, one of the party said 
to her, u Well. Catalina, what do you think of the 
Nile V " Oh," she replied, with sincerity and earnest- 
ness, "it is very grand — if it was only at Mahon, 
what a fine place it would be to wash clothes in !" 



25 



EGYPT. 



CHAPTER II. 

Boats on the Nile. Our enjoyments on the river. Water of the 
Nile. Villages. Ovens for hatching chickens. Egyptian bricks 
and case of the Israelites. Singular costume of the females. 
Thievish boatmen. First view of the Pyramids. Stupendous 
■undertaking of Mohammed Ali at the Barage. Approach to 
Cairo. Moonlight scene, 

The boats of the canal are confined exclusively 
to its waters, and we here found it necessary to look 
out for other conveyances, a necessity to which our 
last night's experience made us very gladly submit ; 
nor had we at any time occasion to find fault with 
the comfort or cleanliness of the boats on the Nile. 
Those which we engaged had about three fourths 
of the length of one of our canal boats, and about 
twice the breadth, and drew from three to four feet 
water ; near the stern were a forward and an after 
cabin, the former of sufficient height to allow us to 
stand upright. In front of it we spread awnings 
above, and at the sides, so as to make a cool veran- 
dah or vestibule for eating and sitting during the 
day ; and, with the aid of curtains, a pleasant sleep- 
ing apartment for the night. Towards the bow the 
deck ceased, and gave place to an open area filled 
with sand, where our excellent cook erected his 

3 



26 



EGYPT. 



throne, and chopped off as many heads as might 
have satisfied even Mohammed Ali himself. 

Our party, consisting of twenty-six persons exclu- 
sive of attendants, engaged three of these boats. The 

Commodore and his family, and, by invitation, , 

and the writer of this, occupied one of them ; a se- 
cond was engaged by a party principally of lieute- 
nants ; and a third by midshipmen from the two ships. 
We had on board of each boat a person called a Ca- 
vass, an officer appointed by government to attend 
on travellers ; he goes well armed, and bears in ad- 
dition, as a badge of office, a long cane capped with 
silver or gold, to which dangle chains of the same 
material. His presence places the party under the 
protection of government, and gives it access to all 
public places to which he may choose to lead. 

We were all a happy party on that river. Our 
steward had laid in abundantly, and provisions along 
the Nile were plentiful and cheap ; we had books 
and musical instruments, and chessmen and society. 
We changed back and forward among the boats, and 
sometimes gave tea-parties; and often landed for 
a stroll along the river banks, or among the palm- 
groves ,of the villages. The officers unanimously 
voted that it was far preferable to keeping watch on 
shipboard. Nor must I forget another source of 
real and actual pleasure, in drinking the Nile water. 
It is a delicious fluid, and the natives have a saying 
handed down from father to son, " that if Mahomet 
had ever tasted the waters of the Nile, he would 



PARTY ON THE RIVER, 



27 



have placed his Paradise along its banks." An 
earthern vessel, that would hold twenty or twenty- 
five gallons, was lashed at the stern of our boat, and 
kept filled, so as to allow the sediment to subside. 
The river, when we were ascending, was about one 
fourth advanced in the yearly flood, and the waters 
were of a light yellow color ; on being allowed to 
rest in the jar, they took the color of lemonade, and 
were the most agreeable we had ever tasted. We 
drank prodigious quantities, but without having our 
health at all affected by them. The wind at this 
season blows constantly up stream during the day, 
but subsides a little after sunset, when we were 
obliged to come to and secure ourselves to the shorn 
for the night. Descending boats take advantage of 
this interval of calm to drop down with the cur- 
rent 

We stopped first at Atfour, the city noticed above, 
where we found that what had seemed to us a pa- 
lace was a large manufactory of Egyptian caps be- 
longing to the Pasha, Thence we glided up the 
stream, the American ensign at the peak of each of 
our high lateen yards, fluttering, and seeming to re- 
joice as much as we at being on the Egyptian river. 
The banks, villages, islands, and groves, slipped along 
by our sides, presenting views sometimes highly 
picturesque, and always of a strikingly oriental 
character. The country, however, is generally at 
this season of the year tame and monotonous. The 
crops had been gathered in, and the open plains 



28 



EGYPT. 



(for there are no enclosures, except occasionally 
to a garden) were burnt to a cinder by the fierce 
raging sun ; the earth was gaping, and seemed to 
pant under its fury ; and, except the neighborhood 
of the villages, and now and then a garden watered 
by artificial means, there was not a speck of ver- 
dure to be seen. The villages also, when we 
came to inspect them, we found to be miserable in 
the extreme. They consist of one Qr two hundred 
houses, made of bricks hardened in the sun and co- 
vered with domes of the same material. The bricks 
retain the original color of the muddy deposite, and 
the villages have a dull, gloomy appearance. White- 
YJ2,sh is never used within ; but on the outside a mot- 
tled appearance is sometimes given to the houses by 
the custom of sticking cakes of camels' ordure against 
their front and sides to dry ; this being the only fuel 
used in the country. It is said to burn very well, 
and when thus prepared, to have no disagreeable 
odour. If the reader will imagine a collection of 
houses thus daubed on the outside, with earthern 
floors and bare walls of mud, a small hole for a 
window, excessively filthy within, and abounding in 
vermin ; he will have an idea of an Egyptian village. 
He must add also now and then a large, well -filled 
granary of the Pasha in the neighborhood of the 
villages ; and in the villages themselves a number of 
dwellings in ruins ; for the bricks often yield to the 
operation of the weather, and the badly constructed 
domes tumble in. As we sailed along, our attention 



EGYPTIAN VILLAGES. 



29 



was very often drawn to the houses for hatching 
chickens, one or more of which may be seen in each 
of their villages. They are formed by taking a 
number of pots, of the capacity of about a gallon, 
contracted at the neck, which is turned towards the 
exterior. About fifty or sixty of these are built up 
with bricks and mud into an edifice like an elongated 
bee-hive, twelve or fifteen feet in height. The 
eggs are small and the fowls diminutive, but of a 
very pleasant flavor. 

I examined the Egyptian bricks with reference to 
the complaint of the Hebrews, that straw was not 
allowed them in the manufacture. A few here have 
straw mixed up with them, and it will doubtless 
check the process of disintegration to which they are 
exposed, but it does not seem at present to be consi- 
dered a necessary ingredient. But it is universally 
employed in the process of manufacturing, or rather 
in drying the bricks. They are in size like our 
bricks, and are cut with a spade from the earth when 
moistened by the yearly floods. Fine straw is then 
scattered on the adjoining grounds, and the bricks 
are spread over this to dry ; and were this precau- 
tion not used, the bricks in drying would adhere to 
the earth and be spoiled. I conclude, then, that here 
was occasioned the dilemma in which the Israelites 
soon found themselves ; they could make the tale of 
bricks, but when they came to remove them at the 
close of their labors, they found them attached to 
the soil and their labors lost. I frequently saw 

3* 



30 



EGYPT. 



bricks exposed for drying, but never without a layer 
of fine straw beneath. 

Their villages occur at intervals of five or six 
miles ; generally they are on the river bank, put are 
often scattered over the interior, and with th0 groves 
of the graceful palm-tree often formed pretty group- 
ings in the landscape. The natives are of a light 
ash color ; and the men, though rather slender, are 
remarkably well-formed, light, and active, and capa- 
ble of enduring fatigue. Their dress is sometimes 
like that of the Turks, but often simply a long piece 
of white cloth, like the Roman toga, wrapped around 
the body, with the ends thrown across the shoulders 
or supported under the arm ; it is a graceful, but 
not very modest dress. But the women ! How 
strange are the caprices of fashion, and often how 
extravagant and silly ! In Turkey a woman is not 
allowed to show her face at all ; a handkerchief 
drawn across the forehead, and another just below 
this, so as to cover all the face, and leave room only 
for the eyes to fall bashfully on the ground and 
pick out the lady's way, secures their modesty. In 
Egypt a lady may expose all her face except the 
nose and mouth : these it would be the height of in- 
delicacy to exhibit, and she protects them by a strip 
of black cotton stuff (black, think you !) about three 
feet in length and four inches wide. One end of 
this is fastened by a string passing across her fore- 
head and tied at the back of her head ; the cloth 
falls down over her nose and mouth, and the lady's 



COSTUME OF THE NATIVES, 31 

modesty is secure. It would be well for them to 
cover all the face, for a more ugly set of ladies I 
have never met with in any country. The Turkish 
costume has at least the advantage of making us 
imagine beauty ; and many a stranger is put in rap- 
tures of love by a pair of flashing eyes glancing on 
him from beneath the jealous muslins, when, if the 
covering was removed from the face, he would be 
ungallant enough to turn with disgust from both 
face and eyes. The Egyptian ladies show a want 
of taste in not adopting the Turkish fashion. 

At one of the villages, called Negila, we saw some 
of the dancing girls of the country. They were 
dressed in the national costume, but were decked off 
with beads and a great variety of tawdry ornaments, 
and were disgusting objects. Here is a large granary 
belonging to the Pasha, with vast stores of every 
kind ; in our way to and from it we were beset with 
beggars, whose appearance exhibited the utmost 
wretchedness. 

The breeze was fresh and our boats were comfort- 
able, and the banks and the hours glided swiftly 
along. We had music, we played chess, we read, we 
chatted, we dozed when we preferred doing so. 
When meal-time came we slipped the leather trunks 
together for a table, and brought good appetites to 
the repast. Cleopatra herself had not a more cheer- 
ful party than ours. 

Our boatmen often amused us by their agility. 
The sand banks at the bends of the river are planted 



32 



EGYPT. 



with water-melons, and as the flood was beginning 
to reach the fruit, the inhabitants were busy gather- 
ing it in, though it was not yet fully ripe. The 
Arabs of our boat would often make a dash at these 
melons, and would have just time to select the best 
when the owners would rush with cries to the scene 
of plunder. Down they would all go together into 
the river, flouncing and tugging; the one for revenge, 
the other, amid so many witnesses of his exploit, 
struggling for fame as well as for the water-melon, 
and pushing it before him with all his might. Some- 
times they would grapple, and in the consequent 
struggle of fierce passions the melon would escape 
from both, and glide quietly down the river : but 
generally the boatman succeeded in depositing it 
safely under the wing of the Cavass. 

Towards evening of the 17th we came to a range 
of sand hills stretching along on our right ; they are 
the commencement of the chain that higher up 
assists in forming the valley of the Nile. Up to this 
point our view on either side took in an unbroken 
level as far as the eye could reach. 

The Pyramids. — It was with a thrill of joy that, 
on the morning of the 18th, as we sat at breakfast, 
at an exclamation from one of our party, we looked 
up, and saw before us the Pyramids. We were then 
twenty-four miles distant, but, though thin and airy- 
like, they were very distinct. These monuments 
are most impressive when the spectator is either 
close beneath them or at a distance like this, On 



FIRST VIEW OF THE PYRAMIDS. 33 

the present occasion they produced a very pow- 
erful effect. Their regularity of outline kept their 
impression clear on the mind as works of art ; their 
shadowy appearance showed them to be very dis- 
tant, while their great elevation at so remote a point 
affected the mind strongly with their astonishing 
vastness. They were in sight, with brief intervals, 
during the whole day, and to the last were grand and 
sublime objects. 

About noon we found ourselves approaching a 
spot, in which, from the representations of our Ca- 
vass, we had become highly interested. We were 
near the head of the Delta, a place which Moham- 
med Ali has selected for a work, which, if successful, 
will place him far above the constructors of the Py- 
ramids, and make him one of the greatest benefactors 
that Egypt has ever known. The place opened 
upon us at length, but on looking up our first im- 
pression was one of deep and unqualified disgust. 
Before us was a busy scene. On the high bank at 
our left men were appearing in great numbers, with 
baskets of earth in their hands, and after discharging 
it down the bank, were retiring to give place for 
others ; but as they stood out in strong relief against 
the sky, we could see others with whips, which they 
were using freely upon the poor wretches, whose 
writhings and accelerated movements gave proof of 
the smart. 

We stopped on this occasion only to take a glance 
at the Barage^ for so this place is called ; but on 



34 



EGYPT* 



our return from Cairo gave it a careful examination^ 
and, by the politeness of the chief engineer, M. Le~ 
non, were furnished with plans and explanations. 

The traveller along the Nile is everywhere struck 
with the great value of irrigation to these lands. 
Water is frequently raised from the river by wheels 
turned by oxen or camels, and sometimes by buckets 
swung at the end of a pole and worked by men ; 
and wherever this is done, we found, even at mid- 
summer, gardens of the most intense verdure and of 
extreme luxuriance. It may be doubted, indeed, 
whether the annual floods do not benefit the country 
quite as much by the irrigation as by their muddy de- 
posites. The object of the Pasha is, by means of 
dams, to raise the waters of the river to the surface 
of the adjoining country, and enable the cultiva- 
tors, to carry it by canals to any part, and to irri- 
gate the whole region freely, wherever they may 
choose, and the place we were now at is the one 
which he has selected for this great undertaking. 
The idea of this is not quite a novel one, but was first 
grasped by the capacious mind of Buonaparte, between 
whose character and that of the Egyptian monarch, 
there is, by the way, quite a strong resemblance. 

The reader will remember, that of the seven mouths 
by which the Nile- formerly discharged itself, only 
two remain ; one, the eastern, passing into the sea 
at Damietta ; while the other, or western, discharges 
itself in a similar way near Rosetta. The Delta, ly- 
ing between them, is of extreme fertility. Should he 



THE BARAGE. 



35 



succeed, not only will the productions of this be 
greatly increased, but, by leading the waters off east 
and west of it, he will be able to redeem from the 
encroaching deserts an immense extent of country 
now quite abandoned. But difficulties of an alarm- 
ing kind present themselves. The bottom of the 
river is loose and unstable ; and the shores are so 
friable, that if an attempt is made to build a dam 
across it at once, the water will, in the mean time, be 
working out for itself new channels along the sides. 
Minds like that of Mohammed Ali, however, are only 
stimulated, not discouraged, by serious obstacles. He 
has employed M. Lenon, a French gentleman, and 
self-taught, but an engineer of superior abilities ; and 
trusting the whole matter to him. has given him, as 
a nominal superior, Mahmoud Bey, the late governor 
of Cairo, one of the most wealthy men of the country, 
and apparently an agreeable coadjutor in this great 
undertaking. The subjoined plan is copied from 
one drawn for us by M. Lenon, and the measure- 
ments were also furnished by him. 

In this A represents the river before branching, 
B B the Rosetta, and C C the Damietta branch. It 
is proposed to build a dam across at E and e, suffi- 
ciently high to elevate the waters nearly to the level 
of the banks, which are here about thirty feet above 
the usual surface of the river. The engineer com- 
mences with cutting the canals F F and//, each 
thirteen hundred feet wide and thirty-two in depth, 
leaving cross strips at L and /, until the canal is 



36 



EGYPT, 




ready for use. Across these canals at G and g 
dams are to be constructed forty-one feet in height, 
including the foundation, and a hundred and twenty- 
eight in thickness ; and in them are to be left sluices 
of sufficient capacity to allow the passage of the en- 
tire river. When these are completed, the sluices 
are left open, and the cross slips at L and I being 
cut away, the river seeks the more direct passage, 
and leaves the old channels M and m nearly dry. 



THE BARAGE, 



37 



Piles are now to be driven into the bottom of the 
river, and in these the dams E and e are to be con- 
structed ; the former one thousand, and the latter 
eight hundred and twenty feet in length, each thirty- 
four feet in height. These being completed, the 
sluices are to be closed, and the water is thus car- 
ried to the required height. By means of the canals 
i", / and J5C, it is to be carried over the Delta, and in a 
similar manner is also led off to the east and west, as 
far as they may desire. In this latter operation they 
will be assisted by the nature of the ground ; for 
here, as along the Mississippi and the Ganges, the 
ground immediately adjoining the stream is higher 
than at places more remote. At K will be a gate for 
checking the flow of water, and at H and h small 
canals, with locks, for boats passing up and down the 
river. An immense water power will be thus cre- 
ated at the Barage ; and it is in contemplation to 
erect there mills and manufactories of every species ; 
and also to lay out a city after the European plan. 
Cairo will probably find here a formidable rival. 

This is a great undertaking, whether we consider 
the advantages which it promises or the startling 
boldness of the design ; for in our country we can 
scarcely form an idea of the difficulties that beset it 
on every side. Every thing, even the most trifling 
kind of tool necessary in the operation, has first to 
be made. Mons. Lenon informed us that he could 
not have found things less prepared for his hands, if 
he had commenced operations in the midst of the 

4 



» 



38 



EGYPT. 



African deserts. And, in addition, both he and the 
sovereign have to encounter the ignorance and the 
prejudices of the jealous officers of the court. They 
came once to Mohammed Ali, complaining that 
the engineer was going to needless expense in im- 
porting wood for piles when they had trees enough 
at home, which, if spliced, would answer just as well. 
" Say you so," replied the Pasha, " the experiment 
shall be made forthwith and looking out into his 
garden, he ordered trees at once to be cut down, and 
sent the complainants to see them spliced and arranged 
to their own satisfaction. This was done ; the pile- 
driver was applied to them, and at the first stroke 
they flew into shivers. Since that time they have 
been more cautious in making complaints. 

We found 10,000 men at work digging the canals ; 
6,000 on the Rosetta side and the balance on the 
Darietta branch. Mons. Lenon says, that if he can 
get men enough, he will finish it in three years : but 
at the present mode of working, it will require six 
or seven. They broke ground three months previ- 
ous to our visit. One hundred great dredging ma- 
chines are to be employed, thirty of which are already 
on the ground. These, as well as most of the tools, 
have to be imported from Europe. In the latter they 
are yet very badly provided. The ground is broken by 
hoes, and worked into baskets with shovels or fingers, 
as the case may be : these are carried on the head to 
th3 side of the river, and there emptied down its 
banks. The men are divided into companies of from 



MAHMOUD BEY. 



39 



thirty to fifty' each, with one or two drivers, who 
hasten their operations by a free use of whips. 

This inhumanity must not be laid to the charge 
of the engineer, who has in several ways endeavored 
to soften the hardships of their condition. We 
found him erecting hospitals, and conveniences for 
grinding corn and cooking ; and he has prevailed 
on the Pasha to allow them wages, a thing heretofore 
quite unknown. They receive each thirty-six paras, or 
four and a half cents per day, from which six paras 
are deducted for their board. This in Egypt may be 
considered pretty handsome wages. 

At our second visit we stopped at the tent of 
Mahmoud Bey, whom we found to be a fine speci- 
men of the Turkish gentleman. He is a venerable 
looking man, with a splendid white beard falling 
over his breast. The tent was of mammoth dimen- 
sions, carpeted, and ornamented within with stripes 
of cotton or silken stuffs of gay colors, producing a 
rich and pleasing effect. His attendants brought 
fruits, coffee, and pipes with mouth-pieces set in dia- 
monds. At Mons. Lenon's tent we found the chief 
of the St. Simonians, who had lately been banished 
from France, and had taken refuge in this country. 

Before dismissing" the Barag-e, I should add a fact 
mentioned to us by Mons. Lenon, that in digging 
here they have come to bricks at the depth of sixty 
feet from the present surface of the ground. 

But our boat is once more out upon the stream, 
and we are gazing upward, expecting each moment 



40 



EGYPT. 



to see Cairo open to our view. Instead of the city 
however, came a hurricane, sweeping across from 
the western desert, and filling the air with a blood-red 
color and our eyes with sand. We took refuge 
under one of the high banks, and hugged the shore 
closely till it had passed. Again a little after sun- 
set we gained the channel, and by the light of a dim 
moon glided onward towards the city. On our left 
soon appeared a mass of white houses, forming the 
the Pasha's summer palace of Shubra : it is sur- 
rounded by a garden forming a perfect fairy seene ? 
and is connected with Cairo, three miles distant, by 
an avenue of noble trees. Of all this on the present 
occasion we got but an imperfect view ; soon after 
several other large white edifices came in sight, and 
our imaginations, excited by the glimpses of splendor 
which we had caught, by the time, and the country, . 
worked each into a scene of eastern enchantment, and 
we pictured in each of them fair captives from other 
countries, gazing through the lattice, and sighing for 
their distant native hills. The boat glided on, and 
presently our sympathies were interrupted by the 
glancing lights of the busy little town of Boulac, 
the port of Cairo. This city, as the reader is per- 
haps aware, is not situated on the river, but about a 
mile and a half from it on the west, and has at Boulac 
a landing-place and store-houses for all goods coming 
from the north ; Old Cairo, a few miles higher up, 
answering a similar purpose for all vessels coming 
from up the river. 



MOONLIGHT REVERIES. 



41 



As it was too late to proceed to the city, we ran 
our boats across to the shore opposite Boulae, and 
made fast for the night near a summer palace and 
gardens. After tea we climbed the high bank over 
our boats to get once more a view of the Pyramids, 
now about eight miles distant on the west, but in 
the moonlight quite distinct. 

There was something pleasing in being made to get 
our first impressions of this ancient region by moon- 
light. We were now amid the scenes of the earliest 
grandeur of Egypt. On one side of us, and but a 
few miles distant, had once stood the great city of 
Heleopolis ; and on the other Memphis. Dim land 
of shadows and mystery, the pall of death hath been 
laid upon thee ; but instead of concealing, it only 
makes thy features more solemn and more awful. 

What a scene of life and bustle was once upon 
this now silent plain. 

Ye buried ages, whose monuments stand yonder 
in the glimmering light, I have received the 
wizard's spell, by which the entombed are brought 
to life once more ; and lo, I spread it over you. 
Arise ! 

Ha, this is Memphis 1 And see how it stretches 
across, and covers all the plain. Towering aloft, is 
many a grave but magnificent temple ; there stretches 
the deep shadowed and interminable colonade ; here 
frowns the massive tower for defence ; and there lies 
concealed the luxurious bower of the gay. Dwell- 
ings of the simple and the astute, the noble and 

4* 



42 



EGYPT. 



the lowly serf stretch around, far as the eye can 
reach, and countless multitudes flock along thy 
streets ; while here, closer to us, in the city of mum- 
mies, lie an equally countless number in the sear- 
ments of the grave. City of many centuries and of 
stately grandeur, we yield thee the reverence — but 
what noise is that ? the buzz of the multitude has 
suddenly changed, and now comes the sound of 
wailing on the ear ; and mark, how it increases in 
intensity, and spreads ; and now all the land is filled 
with woe. The cause — I have it now — -their god 
Apis is dead. A white bull, fed solemnly and reve- 
rently in their temples, and to which all the land 
bowed down in worship, has suddenly expired, and 
the houses are all filled with alarm and woe. — And 
here comes a long procession, sweeping onward from 
one of the gates ; these, too, are mourners, and they 
seem to be touched with even deeper grief. They 
are carrying a dozen singed cats to the place for 
solemn embalming, previous to interment, with sacred 
rites. These animals had been their peculiar house- 
hold gods, and were kept in a sacred edifice, well 
fed and carefully tended ; but the building took fire, 
on which the alarmed worshippers rushed into the 
flames, regardless of themselves, and desirous only 
of extricating their gods. But the bewildered ani- 
mals in their fright escaped back to the fire, and 
numbers were burnt to death ; and the procession is 
now carrying their bodies to be embalmed. And 
there is another procession passing onward along 



ANCIENT SUPERSTITIONS. 



43 



the streets ; they carry in solemn state a dog, their 
god, now dead, and which they are transporting to 
the place for sacred washing, preparatory to its re- 
moval in state to the city of Busiris for interment. 
Here, from out the water gate, comes another crowd 
in the habiliments of woe, and with sounds of grief. 
They are transporting, perhaps, a great benefactor to 
their city, some one whose bounties have flowed 
largely upon the poor, for such the mourners seem 
to be ? No — these are two companies, one carrying 
a dead shrew-mouse, and the other a dead hawk, to 
the place of sacred burial. But see, here comes a 
couple of hogs, hooted at and bewildered ; and mark 
the alarm of the mourners as the animals become 
entangled among their ranks ; and see how they 
rush to the river, and with their clothes on, plunge 
in to cleanse their souls from the pollution caused 
by the swinish contact.* 

Ancient Memphis ! our spell has been too potent, 
and wrought too effectually for the safety of our 
enthusiasm; and so we bid thee good night. Thou 
art well where thou art — laid low in the dust and 
almost forgotten. 

* That this is not an overdrawn picture of Egyptian supersti- 
tions, see the proof in Herodotus, Euterpe. 



44 



CHAPTER III. 

Cross to Boulac. Splendid hospitality of the government. Our 
cavalcade. Kindness of Mr. Gliddon. Description of his house. 
The Baldac. 

On the morning of the 20th, the U. S. Consul at 
Cairo. Mr. Gliddon, Jun., came over, and our boats 
were soon after removed to the opposite side of the 
river. And here commenced a series of hospitable 
attentions on the part of the government, which con- 
tributed most materially to our comfort during the 
time that we remained at Cairo. On the bank we 
found waiting a European-built carriage, with four 
white horses, for the ladies ; and for each of the offi- 
cers a superb horse, with saddles of purple or black 
silk velvet, richly embroidered in gold, and with 
housings to correspond. Each horse had a groom, 
who kept constantly in attendance. These were all 
furnished from the Pasha's stables in obedience to 
orders from Alexandria, and each morning, during 
our stay in the city, were brought to our house, and 
also during the day whenever we required them, 
The Commodore's horse was a spirited charger from 
Tyre, the saddle and housings of purple velvet em- 
broidered in gold, and stirrups of massive silver. 
About thirty of these were paraded on the bank at 
our landing ; we looked at their flashing eyes and 



RECEPTION AT CAIRO. 



45 



their powerful frame as they pawed the earth, with 
certain misgivings with regard to ourselves ; but 
concealing these as well as we could, with the help 
of the grooms we soon found ourselves in the saddles ; 
and then, having for a while measured with our eyes 
the distance between us and the ground, we turned 
to look at our cavalcade. It was a very pretty sight; 
and as we rode on, the natives stopped to gaze at us 
with that look of wonder and admiration which is 
so agreeable to a good horseman. The horses, after 
all, though spirited, were easily managed ; and, ex- 
cept a bad habit of using their hinder legs against 
their neighbor's legs or bodies, were generally peace- 
able enough. They are taught a singular gait when 
in rapid motion, which to the natives may seem 
admirable, but to us was any thing but agreeable ; it is 
as if the animal were to leap up with the whole four 
feet at once. 

Preceded by a Master of Horse, and accompanied by 
two Chaouishes and five Cavasses, with the grooms, 
each in the fanciful eastern costume, we wound on- 
ward through the streets of Boulac, and, on looking 
around, felt pleased each with himself, with his 
horse, and with the world. The suburbs of Bou- 
lac and Cairo straggle off so near to each other 
as to leave but a short interval between ; but there 
is little of note on the way, except the garden where 
Kleber was basely assassinated. It is elevated above 3 
and faces an open area or parade ground, which we 
crossed just before entering the gates of the city. 



46 



EGYPT. 



After winding through a great labyrinth of streets, 
we drew up at length before the house of Mr. G lid- 
don, Jun. How greatly are we all indebted to the 
hospitality and the very kind attentions of this gen- 
tleman. As soon as he had learnt we were coming, 
he sent down his large boat for the Commodore and 
family, and it had reached Atf only an hour after 
our departure : he now had broken up his bachelor 
establishment, and threw open his house to us. He 
planned our visits so that each day brought with it 
some object of pleasing and useful curiosity ; and 
when our excursions were distant, took upon himself 
all the trouble of preparation for them. We thanked 
him warmly at parting, but our hearts continue to 
thank him more warmly than words can do. 

We entered his mansion, and freely took posses- 
sion of what had been so freely and kindly offered, 
and then prevailed on Mr, Gliddon to become our 
guest. 

While resting here, I will briefly describe the man- 
sion, as it is a good specimen of the better kind of 
houses in Cairo. Entering from the street, we found 
ourselves in a passage with seats on either side, a 
stopping-place for attendants, porter, or servants, who 
may come on business. This opened into one angle 
of a court, enclosed on three sides by the house ; and 
on the fourth by a wall separating it from an outer 
yard or garden. Turning here to the left, we came 
presently to a stairway leading to the second story of 
the edifice, The lower part is occupied by servants, 



A CAIRO DWELLING. 



47 



and as store rooms or for similar purposes. At the head 
of the stairs on the right was a chamber opening 
into the kitchen and its offices, and on the left a vesti- 
bule conducting to the dining-room, a lofty and very 
airy apartment. The walls and ceiling were orna- 
mented with a variety of carved work in wood, and for 
windows were lattices in a great variety of handsome 
patterns : at one side of the room were two large re- 
cesses, adjoiningprojectinglattices ; the floors in these 
were raised about two feet, and furnished with carpets 
and cushions. And here, after dinner, our company 
retired to enjoy their Turkish pipes. Ascending to 
the third story, and turning to the end of the build- 
ing opposite the dining-room, we came first to a vesti- 
bule, the most striking object in which is several mam- 
moth jars of earthenware, filled with Nile water. 
Through this vestibule we are admitted into the prin- 
cipal apartment of the house. It is about fifty feet 
in length, and airy and lofty ; and raising our eyes to 
the ceiling, we have here explained to us an object 
which is apt to puzzle a traveller on his first approach 
to an Egyptian city. He sees on each of the flat 
roofs of the town before him something like a low 
shed, closed at the sides but open in front, and with a 
very long slanting roof. Here we discover its use, 
for the elevated ceiling of this room, instead of being 
flat throughout, towards one end begins to ascend, and 
rising high above the roof of the house, a large open- 
ing is thus made for the admission of air from above. 
This opening is covered with fanciful lattice-work, 



48 



EGYPT. 



Its utility must be evident in a city where the houses 
are three or four stories high, and the streets usually 
not more than four feet in width. Entering this long 
room, the visitor finds each end of it occupied by a 
platform about a foot in height, covered with Turkey 
carpets, and lined with broad, luxurious ottomans. 
These platforms are separated at the centre of the room 
by a strip of marble pavement about twelve feet wide ; 
at one end of which, opposite to us as we enter, is a re- 
cess with marble shelves for confectionary, pipes, and 
for supporting the priceless and most tempting Bal- 
dac. The Baldac, the reader, after this encomium, 
will be surprised to hear is only an earthen drinking 
vessel, in shape of a Florence flask, though about 
three times as large ; it is unglazed, and the water 
oozing through its thin sides, evaporates, and produ- 
ces a delicious coolness. I do not know any piece of 
furniture that, if taken from the inhabitants, would 
be so much regretted as the Baldac. Each one, as he 
needs, drinks at once from the Baldac, five or six of 
them being always kept ready for use. Water for the 
whole city is brought from the Nile on the backs of 
camels or mules. 

We return to our description of the house, which, 
howevef, is nearly completed. The remainder of the 
third tier is appropriated to sleeping apartments, and a 
fourth range over them is devoted to a similar pur- 
pose. The roof is flat, but irregular. Nearly all the 
windows in this building look into the court : but in 
most of the buildings there are latticed windows 



A CAIRO DWELLING. 



49 



looking into* the narrow streets ; sometimes they pro- 
ject a little, so as to give the fair inmates an opportu- 
nity of seeing all that is passing below, without being 
seen themselves. Occasionally we catch a glimpse 
of a dark eye or a jewelled hand, through the open- 
ings of the fanciful but jealous lattice, 



50 



EGYPT. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Visit to the Governor of Cairo. Court of the Mamelukes. Their 
massacre. Schools in the Citadel. Court of Justice. Pala o 
the Pasha. View from it. The " City of Tombs." A human 
monster. Plain of Memphis. Heliopolis. Mosque of the 
bloody baptism. Joseph's Well. Mint. Manufactory of Arms. 
The Citadel. " The Lions." 

Ea • ly in the morning of the 21st we found the 
grooms with our horses in the court below, and after 
breakfast mounted for a visit of ceremony to the Abdi 
EfFendi, the governor of the city. The carriage was 
waiting in an adjoining bazaar, where it I adbeen com- 
pelled to stop by the narrowness o the streets; and 
here our cavalc u e was formed in the following order : 
1. Two Cavassjes ; 2. The carriage; 3. Eight 
Cavasses ; 4. Two Chaouishes; 5. A Master of the 
Horse ; 6. Dragoman ; next the Commodore and 
Consul, and after them the remaining officers of the 
party. Having traversed the whole length of the 
city, we began, near its southern outskirts, to ascend, 
and presently found ourselves before the frowning 
walls of the citadel of Cairo. Here, in this strong 
eyrie, well guarded both by nature and art, the Pasha 
of Egypt has built his palace, and gathered his trea- 
sures, and formed his arsenal for arms. The citadel 
stands on a spur from the range of Kebel Mokattam, 
the mountains that, stretching along on the East, help 
to form the valley of the Nile. Here they akeabend 



COURT OF THE MAMELUKES. 



51 



and stretch off far to the eastward ; and at the angle, 
on an irregular platform thrown off from it, the cita- 
del was built, or at least enlarged to its present di- 
mensions, in the 12th century, by the famous Saladin. 
It is a place of great strength, and may be considered 
as the key of all the upper parts of Egypt. On 
passing the heavy exterior gateway, we found our- 
selves in the court, where, twenty-five years ago, by 
order of Mohammed Ali, was perpetrated the bloody 
massacre of the Mamelukes. It is of irregular shape, 
with high walls on one side, and on th? others 
steep ascents or precipices, surmounted by ramparts, 
above which again are heavy buildings, and among 
them the ruins of Saladin's palace. It was a place 
well chosen for such a butchery, and the whole 
plan of operations was strikingly characteristic of the 
man. 

It will, perhaps, be recollected by the reader that the 
Mamelukes, as a distinct body, owed their origin to 
Saladin, who, distrusting his native troops, formed 
a body-guard of slaves, procured by purchase or cap- 
ture from the countries bordering on the Caspian. 
They rose gradually under successive sultans, and 
all the fortresses at length being trusted to them, 
they concluded to turn the power to their own use, and 
through their Beys became the governors of Egypt. 
Various, after this, were their changes of fortune ; 
the hardy soldiers, being generally successful in 
the field, but circumvented by their cunning ad- 
versaries in the council-room. The French found 



52 



EGYPT. 



in them most obstinate and determined opposers ; and 
when, at the close of this war, the British arms were 
triumphant, Lord Hutchinson demanded of the Sul- 
tan of Constantinople, to whom the country was 
yielded, the restitution of the Mamelukes to their for- 
mer privileges. He promised compliance, but had 
determined on the extinction of this race of dange- 
rous subjects. The Turkish admiral, who was sent 
for this purpose, first enticed a great number of them 
to a pleasure excursion in boats off Aboukir, and his 
ships opening fire upon them, the greater portion were 
destroyed. War with their race being thus declared, 
Mohammed Ali, then first rising into notice, was sent 
with a force against them, but was defeated and 
compelled to retreat. This was the origin of the 
inveteracy of Mohammed Ali towards the Mame- 
lukes. 

On the invasion of Egypt by the English in 
1807, the Beys united with the rising Pasha ; but 
it was only a momentary truce; and the defeat 
of the English, giving him secure possession of 
Egypt, sealed at the same time the fate of his too 
trustful allies. He immediately formed a plan for 
the total destruction of the Mamelukes. His son 
Tousson was about this time preparing to lead an 
army against the Wahabees, and as this was a reli- 
gious war, it was determined to invest him with the 
command under circumstances of unusual splendor. 
The Mameluke Beys were invited to the ceremony ? 



MASSACRE OF THE MAMELUKES. 53 

which was to commence in the citadel. They came, 
led by their chief, Chahyn Bey ; and a more splendid 
cavalcade never filed in through the portals of this 
fortress. They amounted to 470 men. on horse- 
back, together with about an equal number of at- 
tendants of the same race on foot. Their reception 
was flattering. The Pasha addressed them indivi- 
dually, and with a bland aspect and smiles, welcom- 
ed them to the festivities. At length it was neces- 
sary to form a procession, and the Mamelukes were 
honored by being put in a body near the head of it : 
they filed down and entered this rocky court ; but 
when their whole body had gained it, the gates were 
suddenly shut both in front and rear, and they found 
themselves cruelly entrapped. The heights above 
were in a moment covered with the Pasha's soldiers, 
and a deadly fire was poured down on them. Rage 
and execration were in vain : they were coolly shot 
down till not an individual remained alive. One of 
the Beys escaped by spurring his horse up the steep 
outer wall ; in the descent the animal was dashed to 
pieces, but the rider was unhurt. 

This was the end of the Mamelukes. On the 
following day the soldiers rushed into the city, and 
under pretext of searching for more victims, plun- 
dered a large part of it before the Pasha and his son 
durst venture out to repress their fury. 

Our horses, on reaching this bloody court, seemed 
themselves to be seized with the very spirit of vio- 
lence ; for pricking their ears, they rushed up the 

5* 



54 



EGYPT. 



steep ascent with headlong speed, and, whirling 
through Saladin's court, and then through a larger 
one, brought us up at length in front of the gover- 
nor's palace. It is a long building and spacious, but 
is otherwise by no means remarkable. Abdi Effendi 
has been in England and France, and speaks the 
language of the latter country fluently. He received 
us with great politeness, and entertained us with the 
usual eastern hospitalities. His questions with re- 
gard to our own country were pertinent, and evinced 
a good knowledge of its laws and institutions. He 
spoke in terms of high admiration of his own sove- 
reign ; and indeed Mohammed Ali seems to have 
the faculty of creating a strong attachment for him- 
self in all his officers. The governor said that if the 
Pasha could live twenty years longer, he would make 
Egypt more civilized and more prosperous than it 
has ever yet been ; but added, that he stood all alone, 
and greatly needed some one who could be a second 
self to him. 

From the audience-hall we were taken to visit a 
number of schools in the same building ; they occu- 
py a number of rooms, and contained altogether 
four hundred youths, preparing for public employ- 
ments in the country. As far as I could judge, 
they seemed to be awkwardly conducted. At the 
extreme end of the building we came to the Hall of 
Justice, where, on an ottoman and all alone, sat the 
judge, a man of prodigious corporeal dimensions. 
He was at this time unemployed, but our attention 



PALACE OF MOHAMMED ALL 



55 



was drawn to a new mat with which the floor was 
covered. It had just been put down in place of one 
that, a few days before, had been worn through by 
the writhings of a poor wretch, who had been basti- 
nadoed here ; the punishment having followed close 
on the heels, if not of justice, at least of the 
culprit. 

The adjoining side of the court into which this 
palace looks, is formed by a large palace of Moham- 
med Ali, to which, in the course of sight-seeing, we 
were next conducted. It is quite new, and in some 
parts not quite finished ; and is more remarkable for 
the airy and spacious character of the rooms than 
for any beauties of architecture. Indeed, all the 
palaces which we visited in Egypt, though cool 
and spacious, are marked by great simplicity. A 
hall of great width passes across at the centre of the 
building, and is intersected by another of somewhat 
narrower dimensions, running lengthwise ; and thus 
at each angle a chamber is formed. These cham- 
bers are carpeted, and have the most luxurious otto- 
mans passing quite around. These, with sometimes 
a glass lustre suspended from the lofty ceiling, con- 
stitute the only furniture. In the palace, which we 
were now visiting, the ottomans were covered with 
the richest French silks, with raised figures in beau- 
tiful patterns worked on them. In front of the 
seats hung down an impenetrable veil of silken 
tassels. 

And now let us rest ourselves for a while on these 



56 



EGYPT. 



tempting seats, here by these lofty windows, from 
which we may look down over all the wide-spread 
landscape. The ladies of the Commodore's family 
have gone to visit the Sultana, and it will be some 
time before they return; and a better place for a view 
over all the city and the country beyond, we could 
not desire. The palace is built on the highest part 
of the citadel^ and enjoys, indeed, a very extensive 
prospect, and even at this sultry hour we are here 
fanned by a delightful breeze. 

There, look below where the mountains of Mokat- 
tam turn off towards the east, you see between them 
and the city a great number of buildings of remark- 
able and light Saracenic architecture, standing alone 
on the sandy waste. This is " The city of Tombs 
the burying-place of the nobles of modern Cairo. 
Many of these edifices, consisting, as you perceive, 
of domes supported by tall slender columns, are the 
tombs of the Mamelukes when their race was in power ; 
but there you observe one larger than all the rest, sur- 
mounted by three domes, and remarkable for its light 
but rich style of architecture ; that is the Mausoleum 
belonging to the family of Mohammed Ali. Its 
three chambers are enriched with tombs of Italian 
marble, and their marble floors are covered with 
Persian or Turkey carpets. Some of his wives and 
two of his children are buried here ; and every Friday 
(the Moslem sabbath) their tombs are covered with 
Cashmere shawls. Here lies also buried the infant 
daughter of Ibrahim Pasha, taken off in innocent 



DEFTERDEN BEY. 



57 



childhood ; and close by is the recently interred body 
of Defterden Bey, a very tiger in cruelty , and as 
vile a monster as has ever lived. He was sent to 
this country when it was still subject to the Sultan, 
to watch the Pasha and collect the revenue of his 
master at Constantinople : but it is supposed that a 
1 arge part of it went no further than his own pockets ; 
for in a short time he grew immensely rich. He 
was, indeed, at length inferior in wealth only to the 
Pasha himself. He owned the garden in which the 
brave Kleber was assassinated. He was often in 
power ; and his favorite mode of punishment was to 
bury the criminal up to his neck in quick-lime, and 
thus leave him to perish. On one occasion, his far- 
rier having neglecte to shoe a favorite horse accord- 
ing to his directions, he ordered the shoes to be 
nailed to the feet of the smith himself. The man 
died in a few hours in the greatest agonies. 

On another occasion, when the Pasha's son 
Ishmael had been treacherously burnt in his tent in 
upper Egypt, Defterden Bey was sent to examine 
into the affair and punish the culprits. He called 
the inhabitants of the district together, to the num- 
ber of 10,000, and in revenge burnt them all to 
death, including women and children ; and then 
plundered the country. 

He kept a pet lion, which by some means or other 
he had attached or awed into gentleness to himself ; 
and one of his amusements consisted in throwing 
meat to the animal, and then ordering his attendants 



58 



EGYPT. 



to take it away ; on which the animal often flew at 
them and tore them to pieces. 

This is only a portion of the inhuman acts of 
which he was guilty ; but the earth at last grew 
weary of the monster, and his royal master seems to 
have grown weary of him also ; for one day, after 
drinking coffee with the Pasha, he went home, was 
immediately taken sick, and died. Mohammed Ali 
seized on his immense property, and then honored 
the body by a burial place in his own tomb. 

But observe now that river, how peacefully it 
glides along, unceasing in its flow, and ever distri- 
buting comfort and happiness to the dense popula- 
tion along its banks. Such are Heaven's dealings to 
us. What a contrast to this has ever been presented 
here in men's dealings towards each other. Say, is 
man still in the image of his maker ? 

Our eyes glance on the other side of the river, 
over the site of Memphis. The western moun- 
tains there recede about eight miles from the stream, 
and it is supposed that the whole of this was covered 
by its magnificent temples and its dwellings ; now 
the very site of it is disputed by some persons ; at 
all events its ruin is o < omplete, that objects can no 
longer be' distinguished. Just below it is the Plain 
of Mummies, still tenanted, as it has been for ages, 
by forms of human beings that move not and speak 
not. Men there are at peace with each other. Over 
this well-peopled but silent city of the dead, we see 
the small Pyramids of Sakhara : and further down, 



HELIOPOLIS. 



59 



at a distance of six or eight miles, arise the stupen- 
dous structures, the Pyramids of Ghizeh. I have 
never looked at them without a feeling of awe. 

Between us and them, on the western bank of the 
river, is the little village of Ghizeh, from which they 
take their modern name ; and still nsarer to us, on 
the eastern bank, is the village of Old Cairo, now 
worthy of note only as the port for boats from upper 
Egypt. Between it and the larger city of its name 
you are noticing some hillocks, that seem remark- 
able objects on this level plain. They are composed 
of pottery and other rubbish from the city ; and your 
memory will supply you with another example of 
such hillocks in the neighborhood of Rome. In the 
latter city the merchants have dug into the base, 
and formed wine-cellars, which are said to answer 
admirably well. Near these of old Cairo is also an 
ancient aqueduct, a fine looking object on the land- 
scape, but useless, as it is now in ruins. 

And now look directly north, about eight miles, 
and you see — no, you cannot see a solitary pillar 
standing on the open and deserted plain. There is 
not even a vestige of a ruin near it ; and yet there 
stood in ancient times the great and the learned, as 
well as the splendid, city of Heliopolis, or "The City 
of the Sun." It was of vast extent, and had many 
large temples ; among them one dedicated to the sun, 
with a mirror so disposed as, during the whole day, 
to reflect the rays of that luminary into the body of 
the edifice. Thither came the scholars of ancient 



60 



EGYPT. 



times to drink from the streams of knowledge ; 
there Herodotus acquired his lore ; and, above all, 
there Plato studied ; and there, too, it is supposed 
that Moses " was taught in all the learning of the 
Egyptians.' 5 But neither grandeur nor knowledge 
itself could avail to save it ; and of its many splen- 
did structures, but a single column remains to mark 
its site. 

But here at our feet is Cairo, teeming with life, 
and with the human passions all at work ; and yet 
it seems like a city of the dead. We hear no 
sound, no cry ; life seems to be stagnant there ; but 
it is not. The surface is not greatly ruffled, but 
beneath it the passions are fermenting : who shall 
follow them in their various changes and their devious 
windings ? But we will not philosophise. Here, 
just below us, is the mosque of Sultan Hassan ; and, 
as our time is short, we will hasten to occupy our- 
selves with its singular history; a history that has 
a strong dash of the Arabian Nights, and yet is 
solemn truth, that may be told in open day. This 
is the largest, and in its architecture the most impos- 
ing mosque in Cairo. It is massy, and ornamented 
with heavy mouldings ; and though of the Saracenic 
style, is a solid and substantial building. And now 
for its history. 

About two centuries ago lived Sultan Hassan, a 
sovereign prosperous and beloved, but withal some- 
what eccentric. He had every thing to make him 
contented, but there rose up in him, by and by, a 



THE TRAVELLING SULTAN. 61 

strong desire to travel. He longed to see foreign 
lands ; to study the living world ; to hear the sages 
of other climes ; and, if possible, to turn philoso- 
pher himself. The royalty that acted as a barrier 
to the gratification of his wishes, became at length 
odious to him, and he determined for a while to lay 
it aside, and to travel as a private individual. He sent, 
therefore, for his prime minister or Vizier, and after a 
confidential interview, delivered to him in trust, dur- 
ing the sovereign's absence, the sceptre of honor 
and thj throne of state. He himself left the king- 
dom, and all traces of him were speedily lost. He now 
assumed the appearance of a merchant, and under this 
character travelled through many and far distant lands. 
He went wherever curiosity enticed him, toiling on from 
place to place, in hopes that at each it would still its 
unquiet yearnings and be satisfied ; he studied man 
in every variety of character ; he conversed with 
the wise men of every country, and at length he 
became a wise man himself, which was evinced by 
a resolution to return forthwith and be contented at 
home. Curiosity, he found, only gathered strength 
by each gratification ; the world and its notions were a 
greater puzzle to him than at the beginning ; and what 
little he knew of them, made him afraid to examine 
further ; and as to wisdom itself, he found it every 
where less valued than money, and was astonished to 
see even himself, by and by, deserting the pursuit of it 
for the pursuit of wealth. He was rapidly success- 
ful in his dealings, and grew very rich ; and now, 

6 



62 



EGYPT. 



ending where he had begun in his boyhood, with 
believing that Egypt was the best and happiest 
country in the world, he set out forthwith on his 
return. 

But a disappointment awaited him. His faithless 
Vizier, concluding that the power which he found 
so agreeable for a short time, would be agreeable 
through life, had established himself firmly on the 
throne ; and the old Sultan, on reaching the confines 
of his country, found that the very, name of Hassan 
had been interdicted to his people, and that he was 
apparently forgotten. He kept his disguise, and, safe 
in the changes which time and exposure, and a long 
beard had wrought on his face, he travelled on, and 
found himself at length once more in Cairo. The 
wealthy merchant soon had many friends, and his 
business continuing to prosper, he applied by and 
by for permission to erect a mosque, as an act of 
thanksgiving to Allah for his numerous favors. The 
request was granted, and the foundations of this 
mosque, closely adjoining the citadel, were laid with 
the usual ceremonies. Under pretext of strengthen- 
ing the edifice in so unstable a soil, he laid the 
groundwork strong and deep, and secured it more- 
over with numerous arches or vaults. The building 
rose, and the populace came in multitudes to look at 
the huge edifice and praise the piety of the liberal- 
handed merchant, who before long found that he 
had established a throne, at least in the hearts of the 
people. He was aiming, however, at a more sub- 



NAMING OP THE MOSQUE. 



63 



stantial throne. He had by this time filled the deep 
vaults with men, whom by liberal pay he had en- 
gaged to wait there for his bidding, and whom he 
daily practised with the scimitar, till there was not 
one among them who could not at a blow sever 
without disarranging the light tuft of down, the acme 
of a Turkish swordsman's ambition. The edifice 
was finished, and a grand building, as you perceive, 
it really is ; and the new courtiers, in their way back 
and forth between the palace and the city, stopped to 
applaud the zeal of the pious merchant ; nor dreamed 
for a moment of the pandemonium beneath. It is 
customary when a mosque is consecrated to give it 
also a name ; and this having now been finished, a 
day was appointed for these ceremonies ; and as the 
edifice was so highly ornamental to the city, the 
Sultan himself consented to grace the occasion with 
his presence. He came with a great retinue of cour- 
tiers and a line of guards ; and splendid indeed was 
the scene within the proud and stately edifice. The 
merchant himself was placed in a conspicuous and 
an honorable station. The ceremony commenced, 
and the prayers were said ; and the Mutti at length, 
turning to the merchant, bade him pronounce the 
name by which his pious offering to Allah should be 
known. He ros3 from his seat, and while all leaned 
forward to catch the sound, he replied, "Call it Sul- 
tan Hassan.'" The multitude started as if each had 
been bitten by a serpent, and the Mufti grew pale ; 
but recovering himself, demanded if he had heard 



64 



EGYPT, 



him aright. " Yes," he cried, as a curtain rose atone 
end and disclosed the name in large letters of gold :* 
" call it by my name, by that of your sovereign^ 
Sultan Hassan f and at the words, his myrmidons^ 
who had been led up from the vaults and distributed 
through the church, falling on the astonished usurper 
and his train, put them all to the sword. From 
thence they rushed to the citadel, of which they got 
possession ; and before the sun went down, Sultan 
Hassan was once more proclaimed sovereign of 
Egypt. 

Such was the history of this building, as it was 
narrated to us on the spot. One of the Cavasses of- 
fered to show me the interior if I would disguise 
myself like a Turk ; but as I felt no disposition to put 
my own neck to hazard in this mosque of the bloody 
baptism, I satisfied myself with looking at the 
outer walls. 

Close adjoining it are some lions, however, which 
are worthy of a visit. They are just from the de- 
serts, and are very different from the abused and 
broken-spirited animals exhibited in our country and 
in Europe. They are confined in a room of no 
great dimensions, and are fastened only by a chain 
attached to the wall ; and if any man, who calls him- 
self one of the lords of creation, would meditate on 
the justice of his vaunted title, I would advise him 
to go and do it in this den of lions. 

The ladies of our party returned, after an absence 
of about an hour, greatly delighted with their visit • 



Joseph's well. 



65 



they were, I believe, the first foreign ladies ever per- 
mitted to enter this part of the palace, and were al- 
lowed to depart only on the promise of a longer visit 
as soon as circumstances would admit. 

From the Pasha's palace we proceeded to visit 
" Joseph's Well," a deep pit for supplying the cita- 
del with water, dug, however, not by the Joseph of 
our Scriptures, but by Saladin, whose name, I be- 
lieve, was also Yousef or Joseph. It consists of 
two shafts, the upper about 150 feet in depth and 45 
in diameter, with a winding gallery around, sepa- 
rated from the shaft by a wall pierced with openings 
for the admission of light. This is all cut out of the 
solid rock. The lower shaft is about 120 feet in depth, 
making altogether 270 feet. The water is raised 
to the top of the first shaft by means of oxen, and 
poured into a reservoir, whence it is carried up in a 
similar manner to a reservoir in the citadel ; but it 
is brackish, and used for drinking only in times of 
siege. 

Mounting our horses once more, we returned 
through the court of the Mamelukes, and at its fur- 
ther extremity, within the citadel, alighted to examine 
an extensive manufactory of fire-arms. They first 
took us to a foundry of brass cannon in active ope- 
ration, and thence to a suite of rooms where some 
hundreds of native workmen were employed manu- 
facturing muskets, pistols, swords, and gun-carriages, 
&c, in rolling sheet copper for the navy, end in 
making bolts and sheathing nails. They manufac- 

6* 



66 



EGYPT. 



ture here 36,000 muskets annually, with pistols and 
sabres to correspond. The various parts of the mus- 
ket are made exactly of the same size, so that if any 
part is injured, it can be immediately replaced. The 
different branches are superintended by foreigners, 
mostly from France ; but the master workmen are 
all natives of the country, many of them having been 
sent abroad to qualify them for these stations. 

The mint is also kept in the citadel, and on a sub- 
sequent visit they took us over every part, explaining 
the whole process of money-making, and striking for 
us impressions on paper of all their coins. The ma- 
chinery is old and clumsy, but they had just import- 
ed a new set made of cast iron from England, which 
they were about putting into operation. We found 
the superintendant of the mint, an old man with a 
superb white beard, poring over a great atlas just 
printed at Constantinople, and sadly puzzled with its 
labyrinths. He seemed quite grateful for a little as- 
sistance we were able to give him in comprehending 
them. 



07 



CHAPTER V. 

Visit to the Cotton factories. Iron founderies. Palace of Ibrahim 
Pasha. English garden on an island in the Nile. Stables of 
Ibrahim Pasha. Arabian horses. Bazaars. Slave market. 
Madhouse. The maniac butcher. 

The Egyptian monarch is fond of having his im- 
provements inspected by foreigners, and our own in- 
clinations being in no wise averse to this, we gave 
the 22d to an examination of a variety of objects 
of this kind bordering on the Nile. Leaving 
the city by the Boulac gate, we turned soon after 
down the avenue leading to Shubra, and, after pur- 
suing it for a mile and a half, crossed some open 
gardens, and were then shown into a large inclosure 
containing the summer palace and grounds of a ne- 
phew of Mohammed Ali, and one of the officers of his 
court. It is a pretty place, and as the day was 
growing hot, we particularly enjoyed a marble kiosk, 
with fountains tossing their delicious waters into the 
air. From this we proceeded to one of those large 
edifices that in our moonlight sail up the river had 
fixed themselves so strongly on our fancy ; but in 
the broad daylight, instead of a magnificent palace, 
with a scene of Eastern enchantment spread all 
around it, we found a steam cotton factory, puffing 
and blowing, and sending jets of smoke from every 



68 



EGYPT. 



one of its numerous tall chimnies. But as we all 
called ourselves philanthropists, we considered 
it, or tried to consider it, a very pleasing sight ; and 
our gratification was really great, as we proceeded 
through the establishment and inspected its very 
extensive operations. The principal building is for 
spinning and weaving, and I counted here more 
than one hundred looms of cast iron, just imported 
from England ; in this they were just putting into 
operation a steam engine of twenty horse power, also 
of English manufacture ; the floor of the second 
story in this edifice is supported by cast iron columns, 
and every part is not only neat and convenient, but 
also substantial. It is superintended by a Scottish 
gentleman, Mr. Galloway. Attached to this is a 
yard for bleaching, a machine manufactory, and a 
long building for printing the cottons. The printing 
is all done by blocks, both made and worked by the 
natives, who in this business, we were informed? 
show great aptitude and skill. The patterns, copied 
mostly from the French, are handsome ; and the colors 
are said to be enduring. The price of labor here is 
almost nothing, and the Egyptian Pasha has only to 
persevere, in order to succeed in all the Eastern mar- 
kets. A' difficulty presented itself in the expense of 
fuel for his steam engines, but his enterprise seems 
to be in a fair way to surmount even this. Some ex- 
plorations on Mount Lebanon, conducted by his or- 
ders, have lately resulted in the discovery of a mine 
of bituminous coal, at a place called Camay], on the 



THE PASHA'S FACTORIES. 



69 



western side of the mountain, about four miles from 
the sea, and twelve northward from Beirout. Where 
the stratum first presented itself, it was three feet three 
inches in thickness, and the coal was too much mixed 
with impurities to be fit for steam power ; but when 
we left Beirout, there were indications that it would 
increase both in quantity and purity. Mr. Brattell, 
an English gentleman employed by the Pasha in 
these investigations, thinks there is coal also on the 
eastern side of Mount Lebanon, and is sanguine also 
in expectations of discovering lead and iron ores. 
There can be no doubt that the latter is very abun- 
dant in that mountain. 

From the manufactory we returned to rest our- 
selves in the cool kiosk, where we were hospitably 
served also with fruits and other refreshments. 

Returning from this along the banks of the river 3 
we were conducted, near the outskirts of Boulac, to 
a large foundery for iron cannon and other castings ; 
it contains, I believe, three furnaces ; but t midday 
on the 22d of July, in Egypt, we felt little dispo- 
sition to be sticking our heads among iron fur- 
naces ; and instead of this useful curiosity, hastened 
to put all the Baldacs we could find in requisition, 
declaring unanimously that we had never met with 
any fluid so delicious as the water of the Nile. At 
Boulac are also manufactories for cotton handker- 
chiefs, and for clothing for the army and navy, as 
well as store-houses filled with their productions , 
which we were invited to visit ; but the heat had be- 



70 



EGYPT. 



come so oppressive, as to leave little disposition to 
bodily effort, and. mounting our steeds, we passed 
through Boulac, and hastened to deposite our per- 
sons in the large and cool palace of Ibrahim Pasha. 

This palace, quite a new building, is situated on 
the outskirts of Old Cairo, about two miles above 
Boulac, and a few hundred yards from the banks of 
the river, from which it is separated by well-shaded 
pleasure-grounds. The halls or passages by which 
it is crossed in the manner already described, are 
here unusually spacious ; and the stairway being also 
wide, it has an air not only of magnificence, but of 
delicious coolness. In the Audience hall a r ountain 
gushes out of the wall, about six feet above the pave- 
ment, and forming a succession of small cascades' 
at length reaches the floor, where it is received 
into a large marble basin ; from this it meanders in 
a marble channel to the centre of the hall, and spreads 
out into a small lake about three feet in depth. 
Along the channel are numerous fish, sculptured in 
marble, in various attitudes. 

The usual hospitable refreshment of sherbet, pipes, 
and coffee, was presented us here, and, seated on the 
luxurious ottomans at the end of the longitudinal hall, 
enveloped in odorous fumes, and listening to the 
waterfall, or watching the natives, who, in their 
picturesque costumes, were passing back or forward, 
we spent the time till the heat of the day had passed. 

About two hundred yards from this is the island 
et the head of which, in an edifice erected for it, is 



ENGLISH GARDEN. 



71 



situated the celebrated Nilometer, or graduated co- 
lumn , for measuring the depth of the river, and from 
which report is made when the river has attained 
an elevation sufficient to ensure a favorable season. 
When this is done, the banks which restrain the 
water from flowing into the canal leading to Cairo, 
are cut down, the water flows in, floods the squares 
ot the city, and then ensues a season of hilarity and 
merry-making throughout the whole city. 

The island contains about seven or eight acres, 
and, until lately, presented nothing remarkable ; but 
it is now a very fascinating spot. About four years 
since, Mohammed Ali employed an English horti- 
culturist, Mr. Trail, to put it in order. He built a 
stone wall around it, reaching from below low water- 
mark, to a height above the greatest elevation of the 
floods, and had machinery constructed for irrigating 
it by means of canals, at all seasons of the year. It 
is laid out partly in regular plots, bat chiefly in the 
English garden style, with winding walks, serpentine 
streams, lakes, grottoes, rustic bridges, glades, and 
lawns ; and, what in Egypt is rather curious, in one 
place is ornamented with artificial ruins of temples 
and similar objects. The size of the trees here are a 
proof of the astonishing fecundity of the soil when 
irrigation is well supplied ; for, although the time 
has been so short, the ground is covered with trees 
thirty and forty feet in height ; the shrubbery is lux- 
uriant, and embosoms many delicious retreats from 
the sultry sun. They have collected here all the 



72 



EGYPT. 



plants natural to the country, together with many of 
foreign origin. Egypt, however, does not produce a 
great variety of flowers or useful shrubs. Mr. Trail 
has a house at one side of the garden, in which we 
were hospitably entertained. 

On returning to the palace some of our party 
returned home, while the rest of us proceeded to 
visit the stables of Ibrahim Pasha. Th s warrior 
chief is a great lover of horses ; and in the course 
of his expeditions into Syria and Arabia, has had the 
best opportunities of making a collection ; and he 
appears to have profited by them. 

The Master of Horse, who came to receive us, 
informed us that the whole collection amounts to 
eight hundred, among which are many of pure 
Arabian blood ; but that the best were either out at 
pasture, or with the Pasha's army in Syria. At our 
visit there were about four hundred animals of vari- 
ous breeds in the stables ; and on entering we were 
presented with a spectacle of ferocity bordering on 
the terribly sublime. Whether it is a matter of 
instinct or education I cannot say, but they no 
sooner caught sight of our foreign dress, and heard our 
language, than each animal seemed changed into a 
fury ; their eyes flashed, their manes seemed to rise, 
they kicked, and writhed, and tried every means to 
break loose ; snorting, and showing in every part of 
their distorted features the most savage rage. Their 
keepers went among them, and succeeded in establish- 
ing a little more quiet ; but it was really curious to 



STABLES OF IBRAHIM PASHA. 



73 



see the malice which they seemed to bear towards 
us to the last. 

Among them were eight full blooded Arabs of a 
superior breed ; and I suppose I shall suffer in the 
opinion of all amateurs of horses, when I say that I 
was disappointed in them. Their limbs are well 
formed for activity, but their necks appeared to me 
too short and heavy for the highest kind of beauty ; 
but I will add that I am no great judge of such mat- 
ters, and ought to offer an opinion with diffidence. 
We saw here the horse that had carried Ibrahim in 
all his wars with the Wahabees ; it is a gray, and is 
a handsome animal; but is now thirty years old, 
and, though well fed and kindly treated, is never 
used. There were one or two others in the collec- 
tion similarly situated ; one I noticed, so old as to 
be scarcely able to stand, and the picture of decrepi- 
tude. Some horses from Dongola, in Upper Egypt, 
were striking animals ; they were large and very 
powerful, with glossy coats of pure jet black. The 
Arabians were of various colors : white, bay, and 
brown. Among them were numerous colts and 
some mules; we saw also a donkey, of a white 
color, for which the Pasha had been offered $600. 
It was the largest animal of this description that I 
have ever seen. A mule by an Arab mare was 
also a beautiful object ; it had legs like those of an 
antelope, and an eye of fire. They informed us 
that two strong men were required to manage it. 

July 23d. Most of this day was spent in loung- 
7 



74 



EGYPT. 



ing among the bazaars. Some of these are wide ; 
and the roof or covering being elevated to a height 
of forty or fifty feet, they are not only airy, but the 
effect on the eye is good ; but most of them are 
not at all remarkable, while the generality of the 
streets in Cairo are, I think, narrower than usual, 
even in Turkish cities. Provisions are abundant in 
them, and very cheap. Passing one day along the 
bazaars, we turned into a court adjoining them to 
take a look at the depository and market for slaves. 
The court is not large, but is surrounded with 
houses of irregular shape, swarming with slaves, 
tier back of tier, as far as our eyes could reach. 
They were all of a jet black, with smooth glossy 
skins ; and the hair of the females was worked up 
by a greasy substance into long ringlets, which fell 
on either side of the head. Their cheeks were in 
some instances marked by scars in regular figures, 
evidently designed to be an addition to their charms. 
As we passed among them, they put on their best 
looks, and by smiles and gestures invited us to 
become their purchasers ; to which, I believe, we felt 
not the least inclined, though their price was 
extremely low. 

Taking a Cavass on another occasion, I went off 
to visit the madhouse, of which I had heard some 
singular accounts. After threading a great labyrinth 
of streets, he told me that we were approaching it, 
and that it would be necessary for him to take them 
some provisions as a kind of admittance fee. So I 



THE MAD— HOUSE. 



75 



furnished him with money, and he filled his arms 
with the cakes, somewhat like a thick pancake, 
which are the common food of the lower classes in 
Cairo. On this introduction the keeper admitted us, 
and I found myself in an open square or court, sur- 
rounded by a stone edifice in which were the cells 
of the maniacs. It was a sight not only mortifying 
to the pride of man, but adapted to harrow up all his 
feelings of sympathy. The cells were not more than 
seven or eight feet square, with uneven floors of 
stone or earth, and were grated on the side towards 
the court. Their inmates were sometimes fastened 
with chains, but sometimes at liberty to make the 
most of the narrow precincts of their cells. They 
were quite in a state of nature, filthy, and often 
covered with sores ; and seemed, poor creatures, to be 
badly fed. On seeing the cakes, their countenances 
brightened ; they stretched out their emaciated arms 
between the iron bars, and on being supplied, began 
to devour rather than eat, till in a short time our 
supply was exhausted. I turned, saddened and sick- 
ened, from the sight. 

A short time before our visit, a butcher was brought 
and shut up here in a state of complete and danger- 
ous madness. After some time he grew more gentle, 
and by and by was sometimes permitted by the 
keeper to leave his cell, and to go at large through the 
court. One morning the latter, on returning to his 
duty, was met at the gate by this man, with an ex- 
pression of joy on his face, and invited to come in 



76 



EGYPT. 



and make a purchase of his meat, which he said he 
could highly recommend. The keeper, on entering^ 
found, to his surprise, in one corner of the court a rude 
imitation of shambles, well furnished with meat cut up 
in a variety of forms. He gazed with astonishment, 
and a horrible idea now suddenly crossing his mind, 
he began a hasty examination of the cells. He was 
right. The half-starved wretch had murdered one 
of the other maniacs, and dragged the body piece- 
meal through the bars ; and it was the dismembered 
carcass of his comrade that was suspended on the 
shambles. 



77 



CHAPTER VI. 

Preparations to visit the Pyramids. Audience of leave with the 
Governor of Cairo. u Visit of the ladies of our party to the Sultana. 
Description of the Harem. 

The 24th was a day of bustle, a large portion 
of it being spent at home, superintending the stor- 
ing of wines and fruits, the cooking of fowls and 
eggs, and the preparation of all the et ceteras that 
would be required by a few days' residence on the 
desert. 

The plan, as formed by our good friend, Mr. Glid- 
don, was to make an early start on the morrow, to 
the great Pyramids of Ghizeh, thence proceed to the 
Pyramids of Sakhara, sleep in tents in their neigh- 
borhood ; on the following morning examine the site 
of Memphis, and then going on board his boat, which 
would be directed to meet us there, to drop down the 
river, stopping by the way at the military and naval 
school at Toura. 

As it was the Commodore's intention, after this 
excursion, to start immediately on his return to 
the ship, he had sent on the 23d, to the governor of 
Cairo, to say that he would this day have an audi- 
ence of leave ; and the ladies of his family also had 
despatched a messenger to the Sultana, stating that 
they would make the visit which, on the previous 
occasion, they had promised her. 



78 



EGYPT. 



Accordingly, at 9 A. M. the party proceeded to 
the citadel in the same order as before, where 
the officers were received by the governor in a larger 
and more magnificent hall than at the former visit. 
While the usual compliments of pipes, coffee, and 
sherbet were offered, the Commodore made the go- 
vernor his acknowledgments "for the honor and 
great attention shown him as an American officer, 
and to the officers with him ; stating that their civi- 
lities had left us nothing to desire, and that, indi- 
vidually, he felt under great obligations to his Excel- 
lency the Pasha, a lively remembrance of whose 
kindness he should ever retain." To this the gover- 
nor replied, that he acted ^only according to his in- 
structions, and was happy in being the instrument of 
carrying them into effect ; the American commander 
was considered the guest of the Pasha, who, if he 
had been present, would have been able to do more, 
and would doubtless have ordered a palace for our 
accommodation. To this there was added much on 
both sides that was complimentary, if that can be 
called compliment on our part, which proceeded from 
real admiration and truly grateful feeling. 

From the governor's hall, the party retired to the 
palace of Mohammed Ali, and were again served 
with coffee, &c. ; the mouth-pieces of the pipes served 
on this occasion being richly set with diamonds ; the 
coffee cups were set in fillagree work of gold, en- 
riched also with the same precious stones. Some 
hours were spent in smoking, and in visiting the in- 



VISIT TO THE SULTANA. 



79 



teresting objects in and about the citadel not seen 
before ; while, in the mean time, the ladies of the 
Commodore's family were making their visit to 
those of the Harem. 

I am allowed to insert here an account of this 
visit from a letter, written without the least idea of 
publication, but which places before us, in graphic 
language, scenes which strangers were never before 
allowed to witness. Our interest in reading it takes 
a melancholy character from the reflection that the 
accomplished youthful writer is now an inmate of 
the tomb. 

" We are the only Christians who have ever been 
admitted into the Pasha's Harem. We were there 
twice. The first time was a mere visit, but the se- 
cond was to spend the day. I must endeavor to de- 
scribe it for you. At the gate we were received by 
a dozen male attendants, who led us to the garden 
gate, where we found three girls playing upon differ- 
ent Arab instruments, while two others were singing 
and two dancing, magnificently dressed in crimson 
and blue cloth, embroidered in gold — the full panta- 
loons hanging over the foot, just allowing an em- 
broidered slipper to be seen — a jacket, tight to the 
shape, without sleeves, open a little upon the chest, 
where appeared a chemise of blue or white gauze, 
closely spangled, sleeves of the same, hanging large 
and full to the elbow, and down behind in a dozen 
plaits ; and on the side and top of the head, large 



80 



EGYPT. 



sprigs of diamonds. A sash of gold tissue, with a 
deep gold fringe, finished the dress. These pretty- 
creatures preceded us to the palace door, where we 
were met like old friends by the Sultana, her maids 
of honor and attendants, to the number of a hundred 
at least. The great hall of state into which we were 
ushered, was an immense one, lined and floored with 
white marble ; in the centre a basin fifteen feet 
square, and a large fountain, from which the clearest 
water was playing ; the ceiling richly painted and 
gilt ; one side of the hall lined with ottomans of 
white silk, embroidered in gold, and a beautiful Per- 
sian carpet spread in front of them. As soon as we 
were seated, coffee and pipes were handed to us. 
The Sultana is about 35 years old, with a fine face, 
though the eye is stern — dignified and affable in her 
manners. Her dress was a chali, made in Turkish 
style, only more closed over the neck. On the head 
was a sort of skull cap, formed entirely of diamonds. 
Around this was twisted an embroidered kerchief, 
and on the left side, down near the ear, was placed a 
sprig of flowers, made of enormous diamonds : ear- 
rings, a single pair, shaped like a drop, as large as 
the end of my little finger, and on her little finger 
was a most superb diamond ring. Around us stood 
the hundred attendants, dressed in colored silks ; and 
every one, even of the lowest rank, with heads co- 
vered with diamonds. The pipe stems and sockets 
of the coffee cups were also covered with these pre- 
cious stones. Such a glitter I never saw before. An 



VISIT TO THE SULTANA. 



81 



Armenian woman, who spoke Italian, was there as 
our interpretess. Our gloves and buckles excited 
their admiration, indeed our whole dress. I doirt 
know that I was ever so hauled and pulled about as 
I was that day. 

" We were taken all over the palace, and it vied 
throughout in elegance with the great hall. At half 
past 12, we were led by the Sultana down to the 
reception room to dinner. As we entered, girls bear- 
ing silver basins approached ; others with pitchers 
poured water over our hands ; others again presented 
us towels. On the centre of the Persian carpet was 
placed a small table, about a foot square, covered 
with a cloth of gold tissue. On that was a circular 
glass waiter, about three feet in diameter. In the 
centre was a dish of roast mutton. The Sultana sat 
down, with my mother and self on either side of her ; 

then E , and G , and a lady of the court, 

formerly a slave of the Pasha's, now married to a 
colonel. The interpretess stood and carved for us. 
The china was French and handsome — silver knives 
and forks, &c, which the Sultana knew not how to 
use. She punched at the meat in the most unmer- 
ciful manner. When we sat down, a napkin was 
placed on each of our laps ; another, embroidered in 
gold, laid over the right shoulder ; and a third, and 
a finer one, laid up in the lap, to wipe the mouth 
with. Some of the slaves fanned us — some held the 
different dishes — others salvers of knives, and others 
again silver pitchers, and so on. What with the 



82 



EGYPT. 



beautiful dresses, the glitter of gold and diamonds, 
the divan, the spacious hall and fountain, it seemed 
that the scenes of the Arabian Nights were realized 
before me. I wish you could have seen it. Our 
only regret was that this beautiful scene could not 
be enjoyed by some of our friends. 

It is said there is no pleasure without pain. Tru- 
ly it was so in this case. The dinner was almost 
too much for us. We counted thirty-nine different 
dishes, served one at a time, and of each we were 
obliged to eat a little. And so strangely served as 
they were ! The first five dishes were of mutton, 
rice, &c, — then a sweet dish — then fried fish and 
fried lemons — then meat — then another sweet dish 
— next fried fish and nuts — and so on till the thirty- 
ninth, which was stewed rice and bonny-clabber. 
The glass salver was then taken away, and a silver 
one, with melons, peaches, grapes, &c, replaced it. 
When we rose from the table, the girls with the 
basins knelt before us, and hands were washed as 
before, when pipes and coffee were given us to finish 
off with. While we smoked, the Sultana retired to 
prayers, which she does five times a day. Then if 
you could have witnessed the scene, you would have 
imagined us amongst a parcel of great children. Oh ! 
how we were dragged about, patted and pulled ; each 
woman declaring we belonged to her, and should not 
speak to the others. At 3 o'clock we were sent for to de- 
part, as the gentlemen were satiated with smoking, 
and could wait no longer. They had been with the 



VISIT TO THE SULTANA. 



83 



Governor all this time. The Sultana held us tight, 
and said the Capidan Pasha had no business to send 
for us ; and it was 4 o'clock before we could get 
away. "We made a great procession through the 
garden. First went the musical, dancing, and sing- 
ing girls ; then the Sultana and ourselves, slaves 
bearing fans of peacock's feathers over our heads ; 
and then came the attendants. At the garden gate, 
sherbet was handed, when we took a kind farewell 
of our hospitable Sultana, and were consigned to the 
care of the male attendants, and at the carriage found 
the gentlemen impatient to hear all about what we 
had seen." 



84 



CHAPTER VIL 

Visit to the Pyramids. Their diminutive appearance as we ap- 
proached. Effect when we reached the base. Pyramid of Cheops. 
Visit to the interior. Pyramid of Cephrenes. Belzoni's forced 
passage. His successful researches. Large stone enclosure east 
of this Pyramid. Tombs adjoining on the west. Dine in one of 
them. 

Earliest dawn on the 25th found us up, and our 
court filled with animals of all shapes and sizes, from 
the towering dromedary to the wee bit of a donkey ; 
and each one was allowed to choose his mode of 
travelling for himself. In the end, I believe, the 
largest of us were found on the donkeys, and the 
smallest perched on the backs of dromedaries ; and 
as I was among the former, I amused myself along 
the streets with watching my more ambitious com- 
panions, in danger of being caught up, as was 
Absalom, if not by their hair at least by the clothes, 
and left dangling at the end of the beams that every 
where project from the sides of a Turkish bazaar. 
The ga.it of the dromedary is also extremely uncom- 
fortable ; the rider, unless accustomed to it, being 
tossed from side to side at each of the long steps 
of the animal. I believe when we reached the 
Pyramids every one of our ambitious comrades 
selected some more humble animal for the rest of the 
journey. 



VISIT TO THE PYRAMIDS. 



85 



And here I may be allowed to give a tribute of 
just praise to the Egyptian donkeys. They are 
extremely small, but beautifully formed, and are of 
a mouse color, with a streak of black running along 
the back, and intersected by another crossing it at 
right angles, and passing down the fore shoulders. 
These black lines are believed, by the superstitious 
of the Eastern countries, to be copied from the cross, 
and to be here in consequence of our Saviour's hav- 
ing selected this animal for his entry into Jerusalem. 
The Egyptian donkey is very gentle and tractable ; 
and for riding, is the most agreeable of the donkey 
tribe that I have ever seen. 

Thanks to the tact of Mr. Gliddon, and of our 
caterer, Lieut. S., the preparations for our excur- 
sion were admirably made, and we got off without 
confusion ; although, as we had provisions for two 
days, tents, &c, our train consisted of seventy ani- 
mals ; and our company, amounting to about as many 
persons, comprised a singular variety of nations and 
languages. Preceded by torches, we marshalled 
ourselves in the dark and narrow streets, and the 
word being given, at length we put ourselves in 
motion. 

"Get out of my way, there," cries an aspirant 
after high places to one of more humble elevation ; 
and the way being cleared, on sweeps the dromedary 
at a rapid pace, the saucy occupant of his back now 
beginning to bob up and down, and trying in vain to 
find something by which he may steady himself 

8 



86 



EGYPT. 



and in his efforts to check his beast, only making it 
go the faster. " Which is the way V cry at once 
half a dozen travellers, lost in the mazes of the 
streets, and each, advising a different course, only 
heightening the embarrassment ; till at last they 
yield the reins to their more sensible mules, which 
in a brief space succeed in extricating them. 
" Johnny Turk, here, lengthen this stirrup for me," 
says another ; when the Arab groom, understanding 
only the gesture, and his eyes already offended by 
its unwonted and ungraceful length, draws it up 
still higher, till he brings the rider in the graceful 
attitude of the Turkish horseman, with the knees 
up almost to the chin. £ - What an unsightly atti- 
tude," the Arab murmurs to himself, " with the 
legs sprawling about, when he can bring them close 
up to the breast." To our great satisfaction we 
emerged at length from the narrow streets, and had 
the pleasure of riding on without incessant danger 
of scaling our ancles and knees. 

Arriving at Old Cairo, we were ferried across the 
river, passing in our course the head of the island 
already noticed, and by the edifice with the famous 
Nilometer. Opposite to Old Cairo, as I have else- 
where remarked, is the village of Ghizeh, from which 
the largest Pyramids, which we were now about to 
visit, take their distinctive name ; Ghizeh is cele- 
brated also for its ovens for hatching chickens. 

Passing this, we had now the Pyramids in full 
view before us, nine miles distant, but separated 



DISAPPOINTMENT AND SURPRISE. 87 

from us only by the level plain. The morning air 
was cool and pleasant, our animals travelled well, 
and we left the ground rapidly behind us. But as 
we journeyed on, disappointment took possession of 
every one of us. The fabrics of which we had 
been reading with wonder and admiration from our 
childhood, were before us ; there were the Pyramids ; 
but how diminutive ! 

Still, as we approached them, we watched to see 
whether they would not at last appear in that mag- 
nitude and grandeur which we had always con- 
nected with them ; but it was all in vain. Each one 
indulged in some epithet of dissatisfaction, and even 
of contempt ; and thus we reached the bottom of the 
eminence on which they stand. But when we had 
wound up its sides, and reached the piece of table 
land on which they are erected ; when we checked 
our animals at the foot of the first of them, the 
Pyramid of Cheops, and looked up; there, they were 
again the Pyramids, and grander far than our 
fancy had ever pictured them. The effect, indeed, 
is almost overpowering. Their simplicity contri- 
butes to this as well as their vastness. There is 
nothing to break up and confuse the attention. The 
mind, without effort, embraces the whole object ; one 
single idea occupies the attention ; a single impres- 
sion is made, but it is astounding ; and we feel all 
the sublimity of the object, because by this single 
impressim so great an effect is produced. We cast 
our eyes upward ; we look again at ourselves, and 



88 



EGYPT. 



we wonder that we are so diminutive ; we who just 
now were passing sentence of condemnation , and 
looking with contempt on this mighty work ! We 
sink into nothingness beside it, and wish to dismount 
and get yet lower, and from an humbler place yield 
it the deep homage that the mind willingly pays to 
greatness. " This is great, this is very grand," was 
the language from the lips of many, and I believe 
from the hearts of all, as we passed along the base 
of these stupendous monuments. 

There are three of them at this place, called, after 
their reputed founders, the Pyramids of Cheops, 
Cephrenes, and Mycerinus. They stand on a natu- 
ral platform, or piece of table land, one hundred and 
fifty feet in height, projected from the adjoining range 
of mountains. That of Cheops is the largest^ and 
has been repeatedly measured ; but on account of the 
rubbish that has accumulated along the sides, it is 
difficult to do this correctly ; and there is great dis- 
crepancy in the results, 

English feet. Feet, 

Herodotus makes its height 800, and length of each side 800. 

Strabo 625, COO. 

Le Bran 616, 704. 

Thevenpt 520, 612. 

Davison 461, 746. 

French S£avans 470, 704. 

As the angles are exposed to view quite down to 
the foundation, there is less difficulty in ascertaining 
the number of layers, which is said to be two hun- 
dred and six ; each layer being of smaller dimen- 



DESCRIPTION OF THE PYRAMIDS. 89 

sions than the next lower. A series of steps is thus 
formed, each about thirty inches in height and 
twenty in width. The Pyramid of Cheops is trun- 
cated, terminating above in a platform of about 
twenty feet square ; that of Cephrenes is continued 
up to a sharp point, and is coated from this about 
one fifth of the way down, with triangular blocks, 
so as to present, at this part, a perfectly smooth sur- 
face. It is supposed that the whole of this Pyramid 
was originally coated in this manner ; and that it was 
covered with hieroglyphics. I ascended to the 
smooth portion of its surface, but could discover no 
traces of such inscriptions. The three Pyramids 
stand nearly in a straight line, running north and 
south, and face exactly the four cardinal points. 
Belzoni measured that of Cephrenes, and found it to 
be six hundred and eighty-four feet on each side at 
the base, and four hundred and fifty-six in height ; 
that of Mycerinus is much smaller, and has been 
mutilated so as to be rather an unsightly object. 
They are composed chiefly of secondary limestone 
taken from the adjoining mountains. As the angles 
of the Pyramids have suffered from the weather, and 
probably also from human violence, and have thus 
been broken into smaller steps, we were able, with- 
out much difficulty, to ascend to the summit of that 
of Cheops. The natives, many of whom had been 
attracted from a neighboring village by the sight of 
strangers, when seen from this elevation appeared 
dwindled into the merest pigmies. A visit into the 

8* C 



90 



EGYPT. 



interior was a matter of greater difficulty. I had 
been over to examine the Pyramid of Cephrenes, and 
on returning to that of Cheops, found that the party 
had entered, carrying with them all the candles ; so 
that I had to choose between remaining without or 
groping my way along in the dark. Taking a cou- 
ple of Arabs, who professed to know the way, I clam- 
bered over a quantity of rubbish, rolled down from 
the upper portions of the Pyramid, and reaching to 
the entrance. This is on the northern side, about 
thirty feet above the base, and at an equal distance 
from each of the angles. We here entered a square 
passage, three and a half feet on each side ; and in- 
clining at an angle of 26°, which, it is worthy of 
remark, is the inclination of the entrance passage in 
each of the Pyramids yet explored. This passage 
was lined quite around with polished granite ; and 
the descent would have been dangerous, but for rude 
steps or holes for the feet, cut in the lower flags in 
more modern times. This passage is about one 
hundred feet in length ; and by the time we reached 
its extremity, daylight had quite deserted us. I 
found myself now in a place where I could stand 
upright ; and after stumbling over some rocks, was 
brought to a stand by a rough wall, where the hand 
of violence had been at work, probably endeavoring 
to force a passage into some of the chambers. Here 
an Arab got before to drag, and another behind to 
push me, and by their good help I soon found my- 
self swinging in mid air, in the blackness of darkness ; 
but presently reached a ledge about eighteen inches 



INTERIOR OF THE PYRAMIDS. 91 

wide, regularly formed, and ascending at the angle 
already noticed. Following this up, I at length 
began to hear voices, and soon after, to my great 
satisfaction, found myself in a lighted chamber, and 
once more among my companions. This was what 
is called the King's chamber ; a name given to it on 
account of a sarcophagus of red granite, seven feet 
six inches in length, and of proportionate width and 
depth, highly polished, but entirely plain. This 
apartment is thirty-seven feet long, seventeen wide, 
and about twenty in height ; and is cased in every 
part with polished Egyptian granite. 

Leaving this chamber, and returning part of the 
way, I found that the ledge on which I had ascended, 
had at its side a passage to cinother apartment lower 
down than the King's chamber ; this is seventeen 
feet long, fourteen wide, and twelve feet in height ; 
and is also cased with polished granite. There 
are other chambers in this Pyramid, but of irregu- 
lar shape ; and it is uncertain whether they were 
part of the original design, or are accidental ; a pit, 
descending, with several offsets, to a depth of one 
hundred and fifty-five feet, or to a level with the 
Nile, with which it probably had a communication, 
has also been explored. It is probable that there are 
several other passages not yet discovered, and among 
them one by which there was a subterranean 
entrance to the Pyramid, a passage, apparently of 
this character, having been recently discovered in 
the Pyramid of Cephrenes. 



92 



EGYPT. 



For what we know of the interior of this latter 
Pyramid, which stands within one hundred yards of 
that of Cheops, we are indebted to the most enterpris- 
ing of all modern travellers, the patient and yet acute 
Belzoni. Herodotus had declared that there were 
no chambers in this Pyramid ; and, except a few lazy 
efforts of the Sgavans of the French invading army, 
no attempt had been made to ascertain whether this 
writer was correct or not. The ambition of Belzoni 
having been fired by his success amid the monu- 
ments of Thebes, he determined to make an effort 
upon this Pyramid; and he began first by attempting 
to force a passage into the northern side. This still 
remains as when he abandoned it ; and on examin- 
ing it, I was struck with astonishment at the perse- 
verance and determined resolution of the operator. 
He has cut a large passage (in many places nine or 
ten feet square), for a distance of one hundred feet, 
into the heart of the Pyramid ; the whole being 
through a solid mass of stones, often of prodigious 
size. The danger, as well as the expense of this 
mode of operating, compelled him at length to aban- 
don it ; but his resolution was not to be overcome. 
He examined again the Pyramid of Cheops, and, 
after careful admeasurements, discovering that in 
this of Cephrenes, at a point corresponding exactly 
with the entrance into the former, the surface of the 
Pyramid was sunk a little, he commenced here 
anew, the native workmen looking on in wonder, 
and calling him magnoon, or fool. Having removed 



BELZONl's INVESTIGATION. 



93 



a quantity of rubbish and cut through the outer rocks, 
he at length found his toils rewarded ; slabs of gra- 
nite, like those lining the entrance into the other 
Pyramid, began to appear ; and to his joy he found 
at length a similar passage open here before him. It 
is four feet in height, and three feet six inches in 
width. Having removed the rubbish which had 
fallen into it, he reached, at the bottom, a portcullis 
of stone, " which," he says, " stared me in the face, 
and said ne plus ultra ; putting an end to all my 
projects." With great labor this was raised at 
length sufficiently to allow him to creep under ; and 
" after thirty days," he adds, " I had the pleasure of 
finding myself in the way to the central chamber of 
one of the two great Pyramids of Egypt, which have 
long been the admiration of beholders." A passage 
cut out of the solid rock, brought him from this to 
the entrance of a large chamber. 

"I walked," he says, "slowly two or three paces, and 
then stood still to contemplate the place where I was. 
Whatever it might be, I certainly considered myself in 
the centre of that Pyramid, which, from time imme- 
morial, had been the subject of obscure conjectures of 
many hundred travellers, both ancient and modern. 
My torch, formed of a few wax candles, gave but a 
glimmering light ; I could, however, clearly distin- 
guish the principal objects. I naturally turned my 
eyes to the west end of the chamber, looking for the 
sarcophagus, which I strongly expected to see in the 
same situation as that in the first Pyramid ; but I 



94 



EGYPT. 



was disappointed when I saw nothing there. The 
chamber has a pointed or sloping ceiling, and many 
of the stones had been removed from their places, 
evidently by some one in search of treasure. On 
my advancing towards the west end, I was agree- 
ably surprised to find that there was a sarcophagus 
buried on a level with the floor." A closer examina- 
tion led him to the discovery of bones in this 
sarcophagus, which, on being sent to London, were 
pronounced to be those of a bull, or of that species 
of animal ; a fact which strengthens the opinion 
that the Pyramids were erected by the Egyptians, 
not for the burial of their kings, but for religious 
purposes. The enterprising traveller, however, found 
that he was not the first that had penetrated these 
mysterious recesses. The covering of the sarco- 
phagus had been partly removed; and on going 
further, he discovered both Roman and Arabic inscrip- 
tions ; the latter stating that " the Master Mohammed 
Achmed had opened them." This chamber is hewn 
out of the solid rock, and is forty-six by sixteen feet 
at the sides, and twenty-three feet six inches in 
height. He discovered some other chambers, and 
numerous passages, together with a well, as in the 
other Pyramid. 

Adjoining the Pyramid of Cephrenes on the 
south, are the ruins of a large enclosure, formed of 
huge stones ; while on the north and west are scat- 
tered a great number of tombs, of heavy and solemn 
architecture, forming entire streets. In these the 



DINNER IN THE TOMBS. 



95 



stones are also large ; they had flat roofs, above 
which rose a parapet with heavy mouldings ; some 
are in good preservation, but most have suffered 
greatly from the hand of time, or, more probably, of 
human violence ; the roofs having fallen in, and the 
sands of the desert having entered and filled them 
up. Their inner walls are covered with stucco, on 
which are painted numerous figures of men and 
beasts, in procession or engaged in religious sacri- 
fices, or in agriculture. We opened a passage into 
one of them, and were glad to find in it a refuge from 
the fierce sun, which now seemed to be shedding 
fire upon us and upon the glowing sands all around. 
The tomb consisted of three chambers — two in good 
preservation, and one uncovered ; all of them orna- 
mented in the manner just described ; it was large 
enough for all our party, except the Arabs, who 
seemed to care little for the sun. Our hampers 
being dragged in, we enjoyed here a comfortable 
meal ; after which, retiring to the outer chamber and 
making a pillow of the sand, I gazed on the dim 
figures traced on the wall, and indulged in antiqua- 
rian reveries. 



96 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Some interesting facts in our own country in connexion with these 
Pyramids. Pyramids of Micocatl in Mexico, and of GLuanhua- 
huac and Cholula. Their history. Notices of a deluge, and con- 
fusion of languages, in the picture writing of Mexico. Pyramids 
in the Polynesian islands. " High Places" of Scripture. Tem- 
ple of Belus. Universality of this kind of structure explained. 
Our western mounds. View from the Pyramids of Ghizeh. The 
Sphinx. Visit to the plain of Memphis, and the Military and 
Naval School at Toura. 

We are stretched on the sand in a tomb at Ghi- 
zeh, gazing on the solemn and dreamy figures every 
where painted on its walls. They carry our thoughts 
back to the ancient days, and a spirit of musing 
steals gently over us. What is the origin of the Py- 
ramids ? Nay, start not, kind reader, for I am not 
going to enter into a disquisition on this worn-out 
subject, or to rake up old theories, but to mention a 
few circumstances connecting it with our own coun- 
try, which have always appeared to me to be ex- 
tremely interesting, and which do not seem to have 
received the attention that they deserve. It would be 
somewhat strange if the obscurity which has hung 
over these monuments from the earliest times should 
be cleared away by discoveries in this new country 
of ours. 

About twenty-four miles east of the city of Mexico, 
in a plain, called by the aborigines, Micocatl, or the 



PYRAMIDS IN MEXICO. 



97 



Path of the Dead, are two Pyramids, one 180, the 
other 144 feet in height, the former being 676 feet 
on each side, at the base. They are constructed of 
clay mixed with small stones, which was encrusted 
on the outside with a thick coating of porous amyg- 
daloid. They presented four stories or platforms, 
each considerably narrower than the one next below ; 
and on the top were originally two colossal statues 
of stone, covered with plates of gold, designed to re- 
present the sun and moon. They are surrounded 
by several borders of smaller pyramids, about thirty 
feet in height, forming streets, which run exactly in 
the direction of the four cardinal points. 

Eastward from these, as we descend the Cordil- 
leras, towards the gulf of Mexico, is the Pyramid of 
Papantla. It had seven stories, and was higher in 
proportion to its width than any other in the coun- 
try, being 59 feet in elevation, and 82 feet on each 
side at the base. It was built entirely of hewn stones, 
of extraordinary size, regularly shaped and neatly 
fitted together. It had three staircases, each leading 
to the summit ; and the stairs were ornamented with 
hieroglyphics, and small niches symmetrically ar- 
ranged. 

South-eastward from the ancient city of &uan- 
huahuac, on the western declivity of the Cordillera 
of Anahuac, rises an isolated mass of rock, 358 feet 
in height, shaped by human labor into a regular 
conic form. It has five stories or terraces, the sides 
of which incline inward as they ascend, each being 

9 



98 



EGYPT. 



covered above with masonry; the uppermost of these is 
236 feet from north to south, and 315 from east to west ; 
and is encircled by a wall of hewn stone six feet and 
a half in height. The base of the hill is also sur- 
rounded by a deep and very widejlitch, whose outer 
circumference measures nearly two miles and a half. 
In the centre of the upper natural platform was a 
Pyramid of five stories, of which only one now re- 
mains. It faces exactly the four cardinal points, and 
is on one side 67, and on the other 57 feet in extent . 
The stones of which it is composed are regular in 
shape, fitted neatly together, and are covered with 
hieroglyphics, each figure occupying several stones ; 
among them we discovered heads of crocodiles spout- 
ing water, and men sitting cross legged, as is the 
custom in Eastern nations. 

But the greatest, and perhaps the most ancient of 
the Pyramids of this country, is one on the plain of 
Cholula, which is separated from the valley of Mexi- 
co by a chain of volcanic mountains, extending from 
Popocatepetl towards Rio Frio and the peak of Te- 
lapor. This Pyramid was also so constructed as to 
face exactly the four cardinal points, and had a base 
of 1449 feet on each side ; it rose by four terraces, 
and had an elevation of 164 feet. It was built of 
unbaked bricks, three inches thick by fifteen in 
length, alternating with layers of clay. In some 
places it has been penetrated, and chambers have been 
laid open, in one of which were found two skeletons, 
idols of basalt, and a great variety of vases, polished 



PYRAMIDS IN MEXICO. 



99 



and varnished. On the summit of this Pyramid was 
an altar dedicated to Qxiatzee, the god of the air. 

These Pyramids of Mexico were in existence when 
this region was conquered by the Aztecks, in the year 
1190 of our era ; and were attributed by the conquer- 
ors to their predecessors, the Toltecks, a powerful 
and highly civilized nation, who had obtained posses- 
sion of the country about the year A. D. 648. But 
whether they were not built by another people long 
anterior to the Toltecks, it is now impossible to say, 
though it appears probable that they were. 

Of the origin of the last of these Pyramids there 
is preserved, in the Mexican picture writing,* a clear 
and distinct account, which appears to throw light, 
not only on the Pyramids of Mexico, but on those of 
Egypt, and on the Pyramidal form so common 
among the temples of Hindostan.t It is as follows : 

* Of this picture writing, there are several 'originals preserved ; 
one at Vienna, three or four in the great library at Mexico, two in 
the Vatican at Rome, and one in the royal library at Paris. I was 
allowed to see that at Vienna. It is on deer- skin, and is about fifty 
feet in length by nine inches in width, folding like a Chinese book ; 
the writing occupies both sides. The translation of it, which I have 
given here, is by Baron Humboldt. 

t At Benares is a Pyramid like those of Egypt, formed of earth, 
and covered with bricks. The Brahmins of India, when they heard 
the Egyptian Pyramids described by Mr. Wilford, declared at once 
that they were religious structures ; and inquired whether they had 
not a subterraneous communication with the Nile. He described 
the well in that of Cheops to them, when they affirmed that it was 
for supplying the priests with water in their ceremonies, and that the 
sarcophagus in the great chamber was on such occasions filled with 
water and lotus-flowers. At Medun in Egypt is a Pyramid, with 
broad off-setts like those of Mexico ; and similar ones are stated to 
exist on the banks of the Indus and Ganges. 



100 



EGYPT. 



u Before the great inundation, which took place 4800 
years after the creation of the world, the country of 
Anahuac* was inhabited by giants. All those who 
did not perish, were transformed into fishes, save 
seven,! who fled into caverns. When the waters 
had subsided, one of these giants, Xalhua, surnamed 
the builder, went to Chohollan, where, as a memo- 
rial of the mountain Haloc, which had served for an 
asylum for himself and his six brethren, he built an 
artificial hill in form of a Pyramid. He ordered 
bricks to be made in the provinces of Tlamanalco, at 
the foot of the mountain range of Cocotl ; and to con- 
vey them to Cholula, he placed a file of men, who 
passed them from hand to hand. The gods beheld 
with wrath this edifice, the top of which was to reach 
the clouds. Irritated at the daring attempt of Xal- 
hua, they hurled fire on the Pyramid. Numbers of 
the workmen perished ; the work was discontinued, 
and the monument was afterwards dedicated to 
Quetzalcoatl, the god of the air."* 
To this Humboldt adds, 

" Of the different nations that inhabited Mexico, 
(at the time of the conquest,) paintings representing 
the deluge of Coxcox are found among the Aztecks, 
the Miztecks, the Zapotecks, the Tlascalans, and the 
Mechoacanese. The Noah, Xisuthrus or Menou of 

* A region embracing Cholula. Au. 

t The reader will notice the coincidence with the number of Noah*s 
family. Au. 

t Humboldt's researches, English translation, v. L 95— 6 1 



MEXICAN PICTURE WRITING. 



101 



these nations is called Coxcox, Teo-Cipactli, or Tez- 
pi. He saved himself conjointly with his wife Xo- 
chiquetzal in a bark; or, according to other traditions, 
on a raft of ahue huete (cupressus disticha.) The 
painting represents Coxcox in the midst of the water, 
lying in a bark. The mountain, the summit of 
which, crowned "by a tree, rises above the waters, is 
the peak of Colhuacan,* the Ararat of the Mexicans. 
The horn which is represented on the left, is the 
phonetic hieroglyphic of Colhuacan. At the foot of 
the mountain appear the heads of Coxcox and his 
wife. The latter of these is known by the two 
tresses in the form of horns, which, as we have ob- 
served, denote the female sex. The men born after 
the deluge were dumb ; a dove from the top of a tree 
distributes among them tongues, represented under 
the form of small commas. We must not confound 
this dove with the bird which brings Coxcox tidings 
that the waters were dried up. The people of Ma- 
choacan preserved a tradition, according to which, 
Coxcox, whom they call Tezpi, embarked in a spa- 
cious acalli with his wife, his children, several ani- 
mals, and grain, the preservation of which was of im- 
portance to mankind. When the Great Spirit,Tetcat- 
lipoca, ordered the waters to withdraw, Tezpi sent out 
from his bark a vulture, the Zohilote (vultur aura). 
This bird, which feeds on dead flesh, did not return on 
account of the great number of carcasses with which 



* A peak of the Cordilleras of Mexico, 

9* 



102 



EGYPT. 



the earth, recently dried up, was strewed. Tezpi 
sent out other birds, one of which, the humming- 
bird, alone returned, holding in his beak a branch 
covered with leaves. Tezpi, seeing that fresh ver- 
dure began to clothe the soil, quitted his bark near 
the fountain of Colhuacan. * * * * The tongues 
which the dove distributed to the nations of America, 
being infinitely varied, these nations disperse ; and 
fifteen heads of families only, who spoke the same 
tongue, and from whom the Toltecks, the Aztecks, 
and the Acolhuans descended, unite, and arrive at 
Aztlan." Ib. II. p. 63. 

" The group, No. 2,* represents the celebrated Ser- 
pent Woman, Cihuacohuatl, called also Quiliztli or 
Tonacacihua, 'woman of our flesh ; she is the com- 
panion of Tonacateuctli. The Mexicans considered 
her as the mother of the human race ; and after the 
god of the Celestial Paradise, Ometeuctli, she held 
the first rank among the divinities of Anahuac. We 
see her always represented with a great serpent. 
Other paintings exhibit to us a feather-headed snake, 
cut in pieces by the great spirit Tercatlipoca, or by 
the sun personified, the god Tonatiuh. * * * * 

" Behind the serpent, who appears to be speaking 
to the goddess Cihuacohuatl, are two naked figures ; 
they are of a different color, and seem to be in the 

* This picture represents a woman standing on the left ; in front 
of her a serpent is erect, and looking towards her, with projecting 
tongue ; beneath them, towards the right, are two figures struggling; 
and towards the left, two small objects, that may be vessels, though 
it is difficult exactly to determine their character. 



TEMPLES IN THE POLYNESIAN ISLANDS. 103 

attitude of contending with each other. We might 
be led to suppose that the two vases, which we see 
at the bottom of the picture, one of which is over- 
turned, is the cause of this contention. The Ser- 
pent woman was considered in Mexico as the mother 
of two twin children ; these naked figures are per- 
haps the children of Cihuacohuatl ; they remind us 
of the Cain and Abel of the Hebrew tradition." Ib. 
I. p. 195. 

Pyramidal structures are also found scattered over 
the islands of the Pacific. " The natural temples (in 
the Polynesian islands) consisted of a number of dis- 
tinct Maraes, altars, and sacred dormitories, appro- 
priated to the chief pagan divinities, and included in 
one large stone enclosure of considerable extent. 
Several of the distinct temples contained smaller in- 
ner-courts, within which the gods were kept. The 
form of the interior or area of the temples was fre- 
quently that of a square or a parallelogram, the sides 
of which extended forty or fifty feet. Two sides of 
this were enclosed by a high stone wall ; the front 
was protected by a low fence ; and opposite, a solid 
Pyramidal structure was raised, in front of which 
the images were kept, and the altars fixed. These 
piles were often immense. That which formed one 
side of the square of the large temple in Atehura, ac- 
cording to Mr. Wilson, by whom it was visited when 
in a state of preservation, was 270 feet long, 94 feet 
wide at the base, and 50 feet high ; being at the 
summit 180 feet long and 6 wide. A flight of steps 



104 



EGYPT. 



led to its summit ; the bottom step was six feet 
high. The outer stories of the Pyramid, composed 
of coral and basalt, were laid with great care, and 
hewn or squared with immense labor, especially the 
trava, or corner stones." Ellis's Polynesian Re- 
searches, vol. I. p. 339, 340. 

" The most remarkable objects in Easter Island, are 
its monuments of stone-work and sculpture, which, 
though rude and imperfect, are superior to any found 
among the more numerous and civilized tribes of the 
South Sea islands. These monuments consist of a 
number of terraces or platforms, built with stairs, 
cut and fixed with great exactness and skill, forming, 
though destitute of cement, a strong durable pile. 
On these terraces are fixed colossal statues or busts."* 
Ib. vol. III. p. 325. 

* Query, were not the " High Places," mentioned in Scripture, also 
Pyramidal edifices. They were not natural hills, for the Hebrew 
term for the latter being ny^, while for the high places the word 
nan is universally employed. See 2 Kings xvi. 4., where the distinction 
is clearly made. They were in use among the Philistines, when 
the country was taken by the Hebrews. Numbers xxxiii. 51, 2. 
2 Kings xvii. 9 — 11., and were, 

1. Artificial structures. 1 Kings xiv. 23. 2 Kings xxi. 3. 
Ib. xi. 7. 

2. Capable of being removed, but not so easily as the groves, al- 
tars, &c. — 1 Kings xv. 14. 2 Kings xxiii. 13. 

3. Were erected in their cities. 2 Chron. xxviii. 25. 2 Kings 
xvii. 29. 

4. And in the country. 2 Chron. xxi. 11. 1 Kings xiv. 23. 

5. Had small chapels on the summit. 2 Kings xvii. 29. 1 Kings 
xiii. 32. 

6. And altars for offering sacrifice. 1 Kings iii. 4. Numbers 
xxii. 36, to end. 

7. Also human victims probably. Jer. xix. 5. 



TOWER OF BABEL. 



105 



Last among the Pyramids that I will notice here, 
though the first in date, is the celebrated tower of 
Babel, or, as it was afterwards called, the temple of 
Belus. This temple was square, measuring at its 
base 660 feet on each side ; and consisted of eight 
successive layers or towers, formed of huge unburnt 
bricks, each layer 75 feet high, and each smaller than 
the next below. It was thus altogether 600 in height, 
and had on the summit a chapel for the golden sta- 
tue of their god. According to Diodorus Siculus, 
the gold of this statue, and the decorations of the 
temple, were equal in value to ten millions of dollars ; 
while the worth of the utensils employed, and the 
treasure deposited here, amounted to an equal sum. 

We have thus, throughout Hindoostan, on the 
banks of the Euphrates, through Egypt, in the 
remote region of Mexico, and among the Pacific 
islands, structures in shape exactly alike, and often 
of stupendous magnitude. For an effect so general 
we must find a cause as extensive, and it must be 
one operating with powerful effect. It appears to 
me that we are supplied with this in the hints given 
by the picture writing of Mexico. 

8. Seem to have been connected with the worship of the sun. 2 
Kings xxi. 3. 

9. And with purification by fire. Jer. xxxii. 5. 

10. Perhaps also used as places of burial. 2 Kings xxiii. 16. In 
Isaiah liii. 9. nnn is used to signify a grave. 

11. Sometimes used as fortifications. Judges v. 18 and 19. 

12. They appear sometimes to have been of earth or stone. 1 
Kings xv. 14. 2 Kings xxiii. 8. 

13. Sometimes of wood. 2 Kings xxii. 15. xxiii. 8. 



106 



EGYPT. 



After the confusion of languages at the tower of 
Babel, the stricken and confounded families of the 
plain of Shinar, as they were gradually scattered 
over different, and often far distant regions, carried 
with them, each, not only a deep impression of the 
event, but also a feeling of awe connected with the 
edifice where had been such a wonderful display of 
supernatural power. And they afterwards adopted 
this structure, as the model for temples for the wor- 
ship of the mysterious divinities that their supersti- 
tious fears gradually wrought out for them, the god 
of fire, the god of the sun, or the god of the palpa- 
ble but invisible air. 

We have here a case sufficiently extensive in 
its operation, and also sufficiently powerful. When 
looking at the huge structures in Egypt, I can 
hardly imagine any other cause than that of reli- 
gion to be able to produce such a stupendous effect. 

Only one of the Pyramids ot Ghizeh is truncated, 
or adapted for a chapel on its summit ; that of 
Cephrenes might have had its altar in the huge 
stone enclosure already noticed as directly adjoining 
it on the east ; but it is probable that in this land of 
mystery, the solemnities, whatever they were, were 
performed chiefly in the hidden chambers of the 
Pyramids, to which the priests had access by sub- 
terranean passages. 

The idea that they were places for worship, is 
perhaps strengthened by the presence of the colossal 
Sphinx, which lies about two hundred yards east 



THE SPHINX. 



107 



from them, and on the side of the eminence on which 
they stand. Avenues of sphinxes leading to their 
temples were common in the ancient Egyptian cities ; 
and in Memphis, if my memory is correct, was one 
of great extent, formed by colossal sphinxes, which 
have all disappeared. May we not suppose that this, 
which now stands alone, was, or was intended to be,* 
one of a great number, forming a most imposing 
avenue, leading upward from the plain to these stu- 
pendous temples ? Its face is towards the east, and 
it adjoins what was evidently the ancient way of 
ascent to the Pyramids. 

The dimensions of this Sphinx, as given by 
Pococke, are, height of the head and neck, twenty- 
seven feet ; breast, thirty-three feet wide ; whole 
length of the figure, one hundred and thirty feet. 
Pliny states its height to be equal to sixty-three 
English feet. It is now covered with sand, except 
the head and shoulders. Some years since the whole 
figure was laid bare by the persevering efforts of 
Mr. Caviglia ; but the light sands of the desert 
speedily resumed their place, and have left no traces 
of his labors. 

In conclusion, I would throw out the query, (and 
it is only a query,) whether the mounds in our 
western country, which are often of prodigious size, 
had not the same origin and a similar purpose, the 
circular form being only a slight change in conse- 

* For it is doubtful whether the Pyramids were ever completed. 



108 



EGYPT. 



quence of the material here employed. The Pyra- 
mid of Quanhuahuac, in Mexico, was built on a hill 
wrought into shape of a cone ; and at Ruapua, in 
Hawaii, (or Owhyhee,) Mr. Ellis visited a heiau, or 
open temple, in which " the place where the altar 
had been erected could be distinctly traced ; it was a 
mound of earth, paved with smooth stones, and sur- 
rounded by a firm curb of lava." Polyne. Researches, 
v. iv., 116. 

But up ! up ! and let us get out once more into 
the pure and open air. The fiery sun is throwing 
his rays slantingly, and the Pyramids are casting 
long shadows across the plain ; and, though over 
yon sandy mountains and the panting deserts beyond, 
the sky is still in a glow, the fury of the heat is past. 
Turn here to the eastward. In this clear and pure 
atmosphere, how distinct are distant objects. From 
our elevated ground we trace the courses of the 
numerous canals, intersecting the wide plain beneath ; 
yonder is Cairo, a white house here and there giving 
a mottled appearance to the reddish mass of edifices ; 
there goes the silvery river, in gentle and graceful 
curves ; and here, on our left, stretches off towards 
it a low ridge or causeway, supposed by some to 
have been made for transporting stone for the Pyra- 
mids from the river, but which was more probably 
formed when this region was robbed to supply Cairo 
with building materials.* 

* The Caliph Melee- Alaziz-Othman-ben-Yusouf (quite worthy 
of his name) sent a large number of workmen here with orders to 



PYRAMIDS OF SAKHARA. 



109 



How calm now and quiet is all this scene ; but over 
this plain only a few years ago swept the wild and de- 
structive hurricane of war. There, a few miles from 
where we stand, advanced the legions of France, led by 
him who was himself a host ; and there wheeled the 
squadrons of the fierce Mamelukes ; and here both 
rushed on to the bloody encounter. What spot on 
earth is there that man has not marked with deeds 
of violence, or from which the voice of his brother's 
blood, shed by him, hath not cried to heaven from 
the ground ? 

Looking southward from our present position, the 
Pyramids of Sakhara were striking objects in the 
plain of Memphis, distant seven or eight miles. 
They are on the level plain, and are, I think, six in 
number, but are small compared with those of 
Ghizeh. One ol them was remarkable, even at this 
distance, for the ruggedness of its outline ; the suc- 
cessive layers of stones in this receding very much, 
and making it resemble considerably the Pyramids 
of Mexico. 

Towards evening the party, once more resuming 
their various means of conveyance, proceeded on by 

destroy the Pyramids. They spent eight months, with pickaxes, 
ropes, &c, and put him to an enormous expense; but after all were 
able only to disfigure one front of one, that of Mycerinus, the small- 
est one. Even Saladin bade his workmen consider Memphis and 
the Pyramids as quarries, from which to procure materials for 
building the walls and the citadel of Cairo. Recent accounts from 
Egypt state that Mohammed Ali is taking from the Pyramid of 
Mycerinus materials for his great work at the Barage. 

10 



110 



EGYPT. 



the Pyramids of Sakliara ; and on the plains of 
Memphis found, through the foresight of Mr. Glid- 
don, a comfortable supper and commodious tents 
prepared for them. This plain is covered with 
ruins, often of great size, but too unsatisfactory at 
the present time to detain a traveller long ; and the 
company embarked at an early hour on the follow- 
ing day on board Mr. Gliddon's boat. 

On the right bank of the Nile, about seven miles 
from Cairo, is the military and naval school of 
Toura, an admirably conducted institution, under 
the superintendence of a Spanish gentleman, General 
Seguira. He was a high officer in the constitutional 
government of Spain, and having been exiled in 
consequence, has been protected by Mohammed Ali, 
who had sense enough to see and appreciate his 
merit. He has his family with him at Cairo, holds 
the rank of Bey, and receives the liberal salary of 
$11,000 per annum. The college edifice consists 
of a quadrangle, inclosing a court planted with 
shade trees for the recreation of the pupils. Each 
lad has for himself an iron bedstead, mattress, &c, 
a bureau, secretary, and a chair. The sleeping 
rooms are large enough to accommodate thirty-seven 
of them in each, together with a teacher ; in the 
school-room they have also every comfort, and a 
hospital is also proivded for the sick. 

The party landing here, were received with great 
politeness by Gen. Seguira, who, after conducting 
them through the buildings, and calling on the lads 



SCHOOL AT TOURA. 



Ill 



to exhibit their proficiency in geometry, trigono- 
metry, and drawing, ordered those destined to be 
artillerists to bring their cannon on the ground for 
practice. The young cadets (about twelve or four- 
teen years of age) wheeled their guns to the spot, 
and went through a variety of evolutions with great 
rapidity, firing at the targets with admirable success. 
Their improvement in the school for drawing is also 
wonderful, if we consider the short time which they 
have been able to allot to this branch. The young 
naval heroes did not appear to be so well trained 5 
there are two armed brigs anchored in the river 
opposite the school, on board of which they are 
examined in loosing and furling sails, lowering yards, 
splicing and knotting, unmooring and mooring, and 
in practising the guns ; but the evolutions which 
they attempted on this occasion, were pronounced 
by our tars to be sufficiently awkward. We had, 
however, frequent opportunity of seeing the Pasha's 
ships manoeuvring at sea, and saw no occasion for 
finding fault. The school at Toura contains about 
four hundred lads, and considering the short time 
which it has been in operation, reflects great credit, 
both on the Pasha, and its polite superintendent* 
Gen. Seguira. 



112 



CHAPTER IX. 

Rest on the Sabbath. Visit to the Pasha's summer residence at 
Shubra. Exceeding beauty of the ground. Lake, and sports of 
the Pasha. Pic-nic in one of the Kiosks. Pear tree from the 
Pasha's place of nativity. Brief history of Mohammed AIL 
Departure from Cairo. Regret at parting with Mr. Gliddon, 

Sunday, 27th, was a day of rest, which our pre- 
vious severe exercise made unusually refreshing. 
In the afternoon Gen. Seguira and family, Mr. Taylor, 
an English gentleman, and his lady, and the French 
consul, called to pay their respects to the Commodore 
and family. 

The next morning our baggage was again trans- 
ferred to the boats, which were sent down the river 
with orders to wait for us at the palace of Shubra ; 
and towards noon, mounting our gallant steeds for 
the last time, we wheeled out into the avenue leading 
to that magnificent summer residence of the Pasha. 
Our company was augmented by Mrs. Seguira, her 
two daughters and son, who had accepted an invita- 
tion to a pic-nic, by which the day, and with it, our 
visit to Cairo, was to be concluded. The members 
of this family all speak English fluently, and we 
found them a delightful acquisition to our party. 

The gardens at Shubra are under the care of a 
native horticulturist, who had been sent by the Pasha 
to France, and had spent six years on an expert 



GARDENS AT SHUBRA. 113 

mental farm near Marseilles. He received us po- 
litely at the gate, and ushering us in, we found our- 
selves in a scene more like the creation of a wild 
and luxurious fancy, revelling in joyous freedom 
and without restraint, than a thing of real life. The 
first walk into which we turned was lined thickly 
on either side with oleanders in full bloom, mingled 
with roses and jessamine ; they grew to the height 
of ten or twelve feet, and bending over the path, sus- 
pended over us a canopy of flowers, from which the 
richest odors were distilled. The vista was termi- 
nated by some striking and beautiful object, which 
I do not recollect, for the mind was too intoxicated 
to make careful observations, and I desired to look 
and drink in the rich pleasure rather than to note. 
The grounds, we were informed, contain one hun- 
dred and fifty acres ; we rambled over a portion of 
them, and found every where something to admire. 
By and by our course was arrested by a lake em- 
bowered amid lofty and spreading trees ; it is of a 
quadrangular form, and is surrounded by an arcade 
of marble, at each angle of which is a kiosk or sum- 
mer-house richly furnished. In the middle of each 
of the four sides is a portico, formed of Italian mar- 
bles ; and here, as well as in the kiosks, are marble 
figures spouting out water, which is carried around 
in marble troughs, and made to descend by cas- 
cades into the lake. In the centre is an island with 
a marble edifice, to which is an ascent by a flight of 
steps of the same material. It is apparently sup- 

10* 



114 



EGYPT. 



ported by four crocodiles in marble, also spouting 
water. The water is about four feet in depth, 
and is also paved below with marble. This is a 
favorite resort of the Pasha, and we saw a boat in 
which it is said he sometimes carries out his wives ; 
when well off from the shore, he upsets the boat, and 
amuses himself with seeing them flounder in the 
water. At the time of our visit the place was under- 
going some improvements. 

There is also a menagerie in the gardens, but the 
most valuable animals had just been given away, 
and at this time it did not contain any thing very re- 
markable. The palace itself, into which we were 
admitted, and where we were shown over the ladies 5 
apartments, is richly furnished, but not equal to the 
one in the citadel. 

After rambling about till our curiosity was satis- 
fied, we retired to a large kiosk, whose soft ottomans 
invited to repose ; and our hampers of claret and 
champagne having been brought in, the corks were 
made to fly in the very penetralia of the Moslem 
Pasha ; nor were his officers loth to pledge their im- 
pudent guests. To our feast the superintendent of 
the grounds added an abundance of choice fruit from 
the gardens. The Misses Seguiras had brought their 
guitars, and music was also made to lend its charms ; 
they sing sweetly, and accompanied the instruments 
in some of the airs of their distant father-land. 

This name of father-land reminds us of a tree 
which we passed at the early part of our saunterings 



MOHAMMED ALI. 



115 



through this garden. We had come to a spot where 
a covered walk, bordered by flowers, suddenly ex- 
pands into a little open area, paved with pebbles 
from Rhodes, which, being of different colors, are ar- 
ranged so as to form a tasteful mosaic work. In the 
centre is a kind of canopied throne, and the whole 
spot bears the marks of unusual attention. The su- 
perintendent directed our attention to a pear tree 
growing at one side of the opening ; it was slender, 
but healthful looking, and bearing fruit. "That 
tree," he said, " was brought by his excellency the 
Pasha from his native town, and was planted here 
by his own hand, and he seems to take particular 
care in nourishing it." 

The fact discloses to us a vein of sentiment in that 
extraordinary man which we should scarcely have 
expected to exist. He is said, however, to be very 
kind in his domestic relations. His eldest children 
have all been carried off by disease, or (as in the 
case of Youssoun) by violence ; those still living, 
three in number, are quite young, and he often amu- 
ses himself in playing with them in this garden. 

Mohammed Ali is a native of Cavalla, a small 
town in Albanie, and owes his present exalted sta- 
tion entirely to his own intrepidity. He began his 
public career as a subordinate collector of taxes in 
his native district ; and, on one occasion, having dis- 
tinguished himself in putting down some refractory 
inhabitants who had refused to pay their part of the 
contributions, was rewarded by the governor of the 



116 



EGYPT. 



place with a rich wife and the rank of Boulouk 
Bashi. Soon after this he became a dealer in to- 
bacco, without however forgetting his profession of 
arms ; he was successful in trade, but in a short 
time the invasion of Egypt by the French, called his 
talents into a higher sphere of operation. He was. 
raised to the rank of Bimbashi or captain, and sent 
to Egypt with 300 men, the quota of soldiers fur- 
nished by Cavalla on this occasion. His bravery in 
this country soon drew the attention of his superior 
officers, and led to his advancement to higher rank ; 
and at length, after the massacre of the Mamelukes 
by the Turkish admiral at Aboukir, as already no- 
ticed, Mohammed Ali was placed in command of one 
division of the forces destined to march against the 
remainder in Upper Egypt, and effect their extermi- 
nation. The Mamelukes, however, fought with des- 
peration, and their enemies were defeated ; and You- 
sef Bey, who had the supreme command in this ex- 
pedition, in order to shield himself from trouble, 
charged Mohammed Ali with treachery. The latter 
was near losing his head ; but he managed affairs 
with skill, and gained a kingdom. The army had 
been badly paid, and was disaffected towards their 
rulers ; he had ingratiated himself with the soldiers, 
and seizing the occasion, he first rid himself of the 
Turkish viceroy, and then of the leading Mameluke 
Beys, and soon after was entreated by the army to 
save Egypt from destruction by becoming himself 
the chief representative of the Porte. He yielded of 



DEPARTURE FROM CAIRO. 



117 



course, and the Sultan being compelled to yield also, 
appointed him, though sorely against his will, the 
Viceroy of Egypt. I have related the manner in 
which he soon after exterminated the Mamelukes, 
and the reader is himself aware how he has since 
made himself, in effect, entirely independent of the 
Porte. 

Our friends were compelled to leave us in time to 
get back to the city before sunset, when the gates are 
closed ; and bidding them a reluctant farewell, we 
ourselves moved down to the river, and took once 
more possession of our boats, which were there 
awaiting us. Mr. Gliddon, we found, had lent his 
own comfortable boat for the use of the Commodore 
and his family. 

So adieu to Cairo ! Our attendants had been re- 
warded with " beckshishes," or presents, in return 
for their own services, and for the use of the horses ; 
the Cavassesand Chaouishes hadbeen paid ; the city, 
I believe, was at peace with us, and we had received 
much pleasure in it ; and now, stepping from the 
gardens into our boats, we began to drop down the 
stream. Mr. Gliddon and Mr. Trail were kind 
enough to accompany us as far as the Barage, where 
we came to for the night, and where, in the morning, 
they went with us to examine this stupendous un- 
dertaking. To both of these gentlemen we owe 
many thanks, and to the former in particular, though 
far off, we all bear grateful hearts. " Two weeks 5 
residence in the same house," (I take the liberty of 



118 



EGYPT. 



copyingfrom the Commodore's private journal,) "and 
constant communication, with his amenity of man- 
ners, and his devotion to our comforts, and to render 
our visit pleasant, had greatly attached all to him ; 
he planned our excursions, and took the trouble to 
provide the means to enable us to effect them ; and 
to him we are indebted for having obtained views of 
every thing in and about Cairo worthy of attention. 
We shall never forget the very happy time we passed 
at Cairo under his hospitable roof. It was therefore 
with the deepest regret that we bid him adieu, and 
saw him leap to the shore, amid three hearty cheers 
from us all. May he prosper in all his undertakings^ 
and be happy !" 



119 



CHAPTER X. 

Return to Alexandria. Ruins about that city. Pompey's pillar, 
Cleopatra's needles. Modern improvements in Alexandria. Ar- 
senal. Harbor of Alexandria. Rail road to Suez. New law for 
protecting his subjects. Presentation to the Pasha. Description 
of his person. 

.Our return to Atf occupied four days, one day- 
more than our voyage up the stream ; as the wind 
still blew strong from the northward during the day, 
our progress was chiefly during the night, when we 
took advantage of the lull, and dropped down with 
the current. 

On our reaching Alexandria, an officer of the 
Pasha waited on Commodore Patterson, to offer him 
the use of one of his palaces, a large airy building 
on the edge of the harbor, and enjoying the sea- 
breeze during most of the day. The Pasha himself 
had returned from Syria, and on application for an 
audience, the morning of the 5th of August was ap- 
pointed for this purpose. The interval was spent in 
making and returning visits of ceremony, in inspect- 
ing the arsenal, and in examining the ruins about 
Alexandria. Of the latter there is the greatest abun- 
dance, extending for miles from the present city ; 
but in most places presenting only a confused mass, 
which can give little satisfaction to the visitor. The 
Catacombs are a succession of chambers extending 



120 



EGYPT. 



to an unknown distance, and dangerous to visit, on 
account of the facility with which a person may be 
lost in their labyrinths. Pompey's Pillar, a Corin- 
thian column, 9 feet in diameter, and of 90 feet ele- 
vation, to which is added a capital of ten feet in 
height, stands on a low eminence about two miles 
back of the present city ; a dedicatory inscription to 
the Emperor Dioclesian is to be seen on the pedestal, 
but it is difficult to say by whom the column was 
erected. 

In an angle of the present city walls, on the east- 
ern side, are the two obelisks w;hich usually go under 
the name of Cleopatra's Needles. They were pro- 
bably brought from Heliopolis or Thebes, to adorn 
an ancient gateway, or the entrance to a temple. 
They are eight feet on each side at the base, and are 
64 feet in length ; are of red granite, and covered with 
hieroglyphics. One is prostrate and broken ; but 
the other is still erect, and is in good preservation. 

The modern city of Alexandria is more an Eu- 
ropean than a Turkish or Arab city ; it is full of 
Franks, and a large portion of it is laid out after the 
European fashion ; this is particularly the case with 
an open square, around which they haA^e just finished 
some large edifices in the Grecian or Roman style 
of architecture. I cannot say that I consider this 
imitation of European cities in Eastern countries a 
- great improvement. About a mile and a half from 
the city is a garden belonging to Ibrahim Pasha, but 
open to the public ; it is irrigated by water raised 



THE ARSENALS. 



121 



from the canal, and is full of thriving fruit or shade 
trees, under which is found a delightful retreat from 
the scorching sun. 

While these improvements of a civil nature were 
going on in and about the city, the arsenals exhibited 
a very active scene. They were then forming a 
dry dock, and so deficient were they in tools, that 
the materials excavated were passed up and thrown 
out by hand ; the number of the workmen, however, 
making amends for the want of instruments. They 
expected to complete it in two years, when they 
would immediately commence two others ; the stone 
for them has all to be brought from Cairo . There were 
five building ways complete, and two in progress ; 
on the stocks were three ships of 100 guns each, 
ready for planking ; and the day after our arrival the 
keel of a sixty gun frigate was laid with religious 
ceremonies ; the Pasha himself, and his officers of 
state, attending on the occasion. The timber is 
brought from Syria, where they procure both oak 
and pine in the greatest quantities, and of an excel- 
lent quality. Their ships are even more wall-sided 
than our own ; but in all other respects they follow 
the French style of building ; and according to a 
fashion now beginning to prevail in the navy of that 
country, keep all the decks for cannons clear of state- 
rooms and other encumbrances ; the whole battery 
being quite clear, fore and aft, and at all times ready 
for action. The officers' rooms are all placed on the 
orlop, which is well supplied with air-ports. Their 

11 



122 



EGYPT. 



largest ship carried 138 guns, and was constructed 
to meet one belonging to the Sultan, and carrying 
144. Owing to a difficulty in getting her out of the 
harbor, they were, at the time of our visit, reducing 
her to one deck less. The harbor of Alexandria is 
spacious and of sufficient depth, but the entrance is 
winding and difficult, and the channel is obstructed 
with knowls of rock, over which there is but four 
fathoms' water. The Pasha had sent to England 
for steam machinery for breaking down these rocks, 
and as they are of sand-stone, he will probably suc- 
ceed. In the arsenal are rope-walks, two stories in 
height, and large ranges of store-houses well supplied. 
The whole establishment exhibited a neatness, and 
order, and efficiency, that greatly pleased our officers. 
The seamen receive, first class $2, and the second 
class 1.50 per month, together with clothing and a ra- 
tion. The officers are well paid, and on receiving 
their commission, receive with it an anchor, together 
with one, two, or three stars, made of diamonds, the 
number being according to their rank ; these, worn 
on the breast, constitute their only distinctive uniform. 
The admiral, rear-admiral, and all officers of a 
lower grade, are natives ; the vice-admiral is a 
Frenchman, and so also is the chief naval con- 
structor. 

However strongly we must condemn the iron des- 
potism of the Pasha of Egypt as regards his subjects, 
in all public improvements there is very much that 
we may approve. In addition to the schools at 



PROPOSED RAIL ROAD. 



123 



Toura, and in the citadel, each of four hundred lads 
supported at the public expense, there is one also at 
Castleaine, in Old Cairo, kept in a large palace, and 
containing 1000 ; another at Boulec containing 600 ; 
and another is to be got up in the same place, to con- 
tain also 1000 ; all of which are at the expense of 
the government. At Boulec is also a surgical and 
medical school, under the care of a German of great 
ability. In addition to the public improvements 
which I have noticed, it is in contemplation to con- 
struct a railway from Cairo to Suez, the route for 
which has already been surveyed. The day before 
we sailed, the Pasha directed his chief engineer, Mr. 
Galloway, to proceed to England, and make con- 
tracts for iron rails, cars, engines, &c. ; the estimated 
expense of the whole work was 806,400 dollars ; 
he intends, by and by, to extend this rail road to 
Alexandria. 

With regard to his subjects, he has made an excel- 
lent law, by which no one is allowed to be punished 
capitally without his permission. A short time be- 
fore our visit, a man of wealth, and high in rank, 
having put one of his slaves to death, was sent for, 
and ordered forthwith into the presence of the Pasha. 
The fact was admitted, but he pleaded that the man 
had been his own slave, and that therefore he had 
felt at liberty to do with him as he might choose. 
" No," was the reply from the Pasha ; " though he 
was your slave, he was still my subject and to 
make the case an impressive one, he ordered the 



124 



EGYPT, 



master himself immediately to be led to execution, 
There is a doubt, however, whether his object, in 
this instance, was so much to protect " his subjects/ 5 
as to rid himself of a citizen who had several times 
given him some trouble, and whose wealth he 
coveted ; the property of criminals, capitally pu- 
nished in this country, always falling into the hands 
of the sovereign. * 

The city of Alexandria stands on a piece of land 
resembling the letter T, with a harbor on each side ; 
and on the strip or point running westward, stands 
the palace of the Pasha. On the morning of the 5th T 
the Commodore, Captain Nicolson, and as many of 
the officers as could be spared from duty, took boats,, 
and landed at a flight of stairs leading up to the inner 
court. 

The building, in which is the audience hall, is. 
large, but has nothing striking in its exterior ; and 
the hall itself is in a style of plainness that seems to 
show a mind overlooking all artificial helps to great- 
ness. 

The Pasha was seated at one angle, and on our 
entering, put the Commodore at his left hand, which 
in these countries is the seat of honor ; he received 
us sitting, but stood up when the Commodore rose 
to leave the room, which, I believe, is an unusual 
compliment. After the compliments usual on such 
occasions, coffee and sherbet were brought in by 
the attendants, but pipes were omitted. I was in- 
formed that, on the occasion of the recent introduc- 



INTERVIEW WITH THE PASHA. 125 

tion of an English traveller, some difficulty had 
arisen on this score ; if I recollect right, the gen- 
tleman had declined the pipe, which was considered 
by the Pasha as an insult. At all events, since that 
time pipes have always been dispensed with at his 
interviews with foreigners. 

The Commodore thanked him for the numerous 
instances of hospitality and kindness which we had 
experienced, and spoke in terms of admiration of his 
various improvements, to all which he made suitable 
answers ; and expressing himself also in terms of 
strong friendship for our country, and hinting a de- 
sire for more intimate relations. He showed consi- 
derable knowledge of our institutions, and put many 
pertinent questions with regard to the productions 
of the country, our modes of cultivation, &c. ; and 
expressed great surprise when the Commodore stated 
the size to which the coffee tree grows in the West 
Indies, it being in Egypt and Arabia only a shrub, 
which must be renewed every five or six years. 

Mohammed Ali is about 60 or 65 years of age, 
about five feet eight inches in height, andheavy ; though 
he can scarcely be called corpulent. His forehead 
is large and rough ; the eyes gray and small, with a 
deep wrinkle running upward from the outer angle ; 
they are very keen and restless ; and I believe there 
was not one of our large party upon whom they 
were not repeatedly fixed during this interview. 
He converses with earnestness, and laughs fre- 
quently, but his laugh is discordant and unnatural. 

11* 



126 



EGYPT. 



The nose is aquiline, the mouth depressed at the 
corners, and garnished with a superb silvery beard. 
The expression of his face when he smiles is rather 
pleasant ; but at other times a person in his presence 
feels as he would do near an open barrel of gun- 
powder, with a shower of red-hot cinders falling 
around him. 



SYRIA. 



129 



SYRIA, 



CHAPTER XL 

First view of the coast of Judea. Anxieties as we approached, 
State of the Country. Recent Rebellion. Investment of Jerusa- 
lem. Character of the Natives. Earthquakes. Taking of the 
City. English and American Missionaries. Death of Mrs, 
Thompson. Defeat of Ibrahim Pasha. Re-capture of the City. 
Conscription/ Strange conduct of our Consul at Jaffa. He is 
dismissed from Office. Jaffa. Large clusters of Grapes. Eastern 
Story-tellers. Gardens and Watermelons of Jaffa. The 
Cactus. 

We left the coast of Egypt on the 10th of August. 
Early on the morning of the 12th we had the pleasure 
of seeing the hills of Palestine emerging from the 
waters. What a thrill was occasioned by the sight ! 

The birth-place of a wide-spread and wonderful 
religion — the land of a thousand miracles — the ori- 
ginal home of a people now spread every where, 
and every where a miracle ; and every where, from 
Lapland to India, still yearning towards their father- 
land — the mountains, the plains of Judea were before 
us. In our earliest infancy we had tried to picture 
them — they were mingled with the deepest and 
warmest feelings of our maturer years ; in imagina- 
tion how often had we wandered over the hallowed 
ground, and here before us was now the reality itself 

A stretch of low and whitish coast gradually de- 
veloped itself; and beyond this, at the distance of 



130 



SYRIA. 



several miles, rose a chain of hills, as our glasses in- 
formed us, under pretty good cultivation, and 
sprinkled with villages. By and by the sun was 
reflected from a mass of white houses on the shore, 
encircled with walls and towers ; this was Jaffa — the 
Joppa of the Scriptures, and the ancient as well as the 
present seaport of Jerusalem. I believe I may say 
there was a very strong sensation excited universally 
throughout the ship by the scene before us; for the 
religion of Judea had at least been that pf our child- 
hood, and there was probably scarcely an individual 
among us, in whose mind it was not connected with 
the tenderness of a good parent, or the kindness of 
some early friend still dear to our memory. 

Our noble ship glided on, and began to approach 
the coast. She was the first American vessel that had 
ever entered these waters ; and in her joyous mo- 
tion, as she pushed the ripples aside, and threw back 
the morning rays from a cloud of canvass, we could 
almost imagine a participation in the feelings of her 
inmates. The stripes and stars were presently re- 
plied to by a similar ensign over the house of our 
consul at Jaffa; and the other consuls following 
suite, there was presently a display of nearly all the 
European flags in that ancient city. 

The city of Jaffa is built on the side of a hill that 
rises immediately from the water's edge ; the houses 
are white, rising tier above tier ; many are covered 
with whitewashed domes ; and the white being now 
relieved by the consular flags, it had quite a pleasing 



DESCRIPTION OF JAFFA. 



131 



appearance ; its walls and towers, and a castle at the 
upper extremity, gave it also a show of strength ; and 
had we found time for it, this proud array of pennon 
and battlement, assisted as it was by an encampment 
of soldiers in the neighborhood, might easily have 
carried the mind back to the days of chivalry and 
romance. 

But we were occupied chiefly with ourselves ; for 
with our pleasure at seeing the Holy Land was min- 
gled an apprehension that, after all. we should not be 
permitted to set foot on shore. At Alexandria we 
had dire accounts of earthquake and war; and, what 
alarmed us more, of the plague ; for although not 
one of us but would have been willing to meet this 
disease in his own individual case for the sake of 
seeing Jerusalem, yet the risk of introducing it into 
the ship was not to be thought of, and we knew that 
if there was any danger of this, the commodore 
would at once decide to have no communication. 
With these anxieties we approached the coast; and 
as the ship speeds onward, it may be well to state to 
the reader what was the state of Palestine at this 
time. 

The ever-restless Pasha of Egypt had, about two 
years previous, without any warning to his master 
the Sultan, marched a large army into the country ; 
.and, on pretence of settling some difficulties 
among the natives, had seized on its strong places ; 
after which he set the Turkish power at defiance. 
The Egyptian soldiers are almost universally men of 



132 



SYRIA. 



light, but active and well-knit frames ; and are capable 
of enduring fatigue, and fitted for any kind of war- 
fare. The restlessness of their sovereign keeps them 
also in a state of constant activity ; and many of them, 
though young, are already veterans in the field. 
The Turkish soldiers, on the other hand, are unused 
to motion — are mostly without experience, and lack 
confidence both in themselves and in their new sys- 
tem, which they but imperfectly understand. They 
have no particular attachment to their officers ; while 
the Egyptians, though at first disliking military 
service, are said in a short time to become so fond 
of it, as to have and to desire no other home than 
their tent ; they feel also, universally, a strong attach- 
ment both to Ibrahim Pasha and to Mahomet Ali. 

We may find in all this the secret of their success 
whenever brought into contact with the Turkish 
soldiery ; and there can be little doubt, that if foreign 
powers had not interfered, Mahomet Ali, if he had 
chosen, might have seated himself on the throne of 
Constantinople. Some of the Turkish soldiers taken 
in the recent expedition toward the Turkish capital, 
were sent to Egypt as prisoners ; and we were inform- 
ed, excited universal ridicule in their passage through 
Syria by their sluggish and awkward movement. 
But I have wandered a little from my subject. 

On getting possession of Syria, Mahomet Ali began 
there the same system that he had been pursuing in 
Egypt, but without having properly weighed the 
difference in the native character. He first laid 



INVESTMENT OF JERUSALEM. 133 

heavy exactions on the purses of the inhabitants, 
who indeed had little to spare, the country producing 
scarcely more than enough for their own support. 
This they bore, though with grumbling : tax after 
tax was laid, and with difficulty raised ; and a gene- 
ral dissatisfaction was the consequence. At length 
he demanded their sons for his army and navy, and 
at once, the whole infuriated populace rose into re- 
bellion. " Take our purses," they cried, " if it must be 
so ; we can part with them ; but our children we will 
not give.' 7 Jerusalem, where the Egyptian garrison 
was strongest, was in a few days invested by a force 
of 20,000 men. fierce and lawless people, and now 
maddened into phrenzy. This was eleven weeks 
previous to our visit. The rebels were badly provid- 
ed with ammunition, and had no cannon, but spread 
themselves over the hills around, hoping, perhaps, to 
starve the garrison into terms, or succeed by strata,- 
gem; or more probably, scarcely knowing them- 
selves what they wanted, or whither to direct their 
efforts. It seems to have been a sudden and univer- 
sal outburst of indignant feeling, almost without aim 
and without hope. The reader, to form a concep- 
tion of the scene, must fancy a people, in color, cos- 
tufae, and disposition, very much like the Indian 
tribes bordering on our white settlements ; for such, 
in a striking degree, are the appearance and charac- 
ter of the country population of Palestine. 

I have selected for this comparison the Indians 
dwelling on our borders, as their debased character 

12 



134 



SYRIA. 



and squalid appearance bring them nearer to the 
Arabs of Palestine than are their brethren fur- 
ther back; and except that the Arab lacks the 
broad face and high cheek bone of the Indian, I 
could almost have fancied the wild looking beings 
whom I have seen stalking into Jerusalem, to be a 
portion of the same wretched people* we often meet 
in the streets of our frontier towns. Their dress 
consists of a hyck, a species of long blanket wrap- 
ped around them, in the manner that the blanket is 
used by our Indians ; and, as with them, under gar- 
ments are sometimes employed, and sometimes the 
hyck is the only garment ; over the head a handker- 
chief is thrown so as to leave the face exposed, and 
falls over the neck and shoulders, and this is kept in 
its place by a small fillet drawn tight over the tem- 
ples. From beneath the handkerchief peep out 
dark elfin locks and black uneasy eyes, while the ex- 
pression of the face is any thing but gentle or attrac- 
tive. A large part of them are indeed robbers by 
profession, and plunder without scruple whenever 
any one more helpless than themselves may happen 
to fall in their way. 

The condition of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, when 
they found themselves encircled by this wild ahd 
lawless host, was, as may be imagined, a very un- 
comfortable one ; but another horror was immedi- 
ately added, one of a more frightful, because more 
mysterious character. It seemed as if heaven itself 
was about to fight for their enemies. During the 



EARTHQUAKES. 



135 



very night which succeeded the investment of the 
city 5 it was shaken by an earthquake — the shocks 
were repeated during the next day and night — many 
of the houses in the city were shaken down, and the 
massive walls of the convent at Bethlehem were 
split from top to bottom. The affrighted inhabitants 
took refuge in the yards of their falling tenements, 
and in the open places of the city ; and thus, while 
the hills were rocking to and fro, and wailing was 
going up from every part of Jerusalem, some of the 
enemy found admittance one night, it is said, by 
subterranean passages, and these throwing open the 
gates, the hordes rushed in, and the place was given 
up to pillage and outrage. There were, at that time, 
an American, and also an English missionary family, 
living in the city. Mrs. Thompson, the wife of the 
American missionary, was in feeble health, and had 
an infant but a few months old to increase her 
anxieties ; her husband was absent, and after repeat- 
ed but unsuccessful attempts to join her during the 
siege, had been compelled to return and wait the 
issue at Jaffa. She took refuge with their English 
missionary friends, Mr. and Mrs. Nicholayson ; and 
they had all, at the early part of the war, shut them- 
selves up in Mr. Nicholayson's house, subsisting in 
a rude way on some grain and dried fruits, which 
he had providentially on hand. Mrs. Thompson, in 
a letter to her husband, has touchingly described their 
situation, the horrors of the earthquake, and their 
greater horror when the cries of terror and triumph 



136 



SYRIA. 



arose on the taking of the city ; and when, on the 
following morning, they heard the Arabs forcing 
their own doors, and soon after met them peering 
among the chambers below. Mr. Nicholayson, who 
speaks the native language, and understands their 
habits well, immediately bribed some of the intruders, 
and, by paying them well, engaged a dozen of them 
to act as guardians of his house and premises, and 
thus saved the families and his effects from injury, 
except a few articles which the guardians themselves 
took a fancy to and carried off in their subsequent 
hasty retreat. Mr. Thompson's house was stripped, 
not a single article escaping their hands. The 
Egyptian soldiers who had formed the garrison of 
the city took refuge in a strong castle at the Jaffa 
gate, which is near Mr. Nicholayson's dwelling, and 
the invaders seizing on all the neighboring houses, a 
fire was kept up between the two parties, which I 
believe did little injury, except to the houses, some 
of which were riddled by the balls from the castle ; 
among them was that of Mr. Nicholayson, and his 
family were once more compelled to take refuge in 
the yard. Mrs. Thompson about this time began to 
sink under the effects of such repeated alarms, and 
of the fatigues and exposure operating on her feeble 
health; a violent attack of ophthalmia succeeded, 
by which she lost her sight, and was reduced to 
extreme feebleness ; at length, after much suffering, 
borne with meekness, she yielded her spirit with 
soothing hope into the hands of Him who gave it. 



DEFEAT OP IBRAHIM PASHA, 137 



Just previous to her death she was heard to say, 
" native, native, native land." She was a lady of 
superior endowments and great excellence of cha- 
racter ; but doubtless, in the hands of a wise Provi- 
dence, from this seeming evil good will yet arise. 

Ibrahim Pasha, on the first news of this rebellion, 
had hastened from Jaffa for the relief of the city ; but 
he seems to have underrated his enemy, and to have 
acted without his usual prudence. The rebels took 
post in a narrow pass about seven miles from the 
city, and starting suddenly up from amid the steep 
and broken ground, poured upon his troops such a 
deadly fire, that they broke ; and it was only by 
hard fighting, and a masterly retreat, that he saved 
his army from entire destruction. He retired to 
Jaffa, and having, as soon as possible, provided him- 
self with sufficient force, once more advanced upon 
the city. But he found no enemy there. The natives, 
the excitement of their first fury now past, and 
probably despairing of success against a foe of such 
formidable resources, dropped gradually away from 
the city, and, with their plunder, retired to the dis- 
tant fastnesses of their mountains. They were, how- 
ever, not allowed to rest. The Egyptian leader, 
binding his field pieces to the backs of camels, cross- 
ed the Jordan in pursuit, and, at the time of our 
visit, was ferreting them out, though not without 
great risk to himself. He advanced so far that the 
communication between him and Jerusalem was for 
some time cut off, and serious fears were entertained 

12* 



138 



SYRIA. 



for his safety ; but he at last succeeded, not only in 
subduing, but what was a matter of greater hazard, 
in disarming the people. Camel loads of guns and 
attaghans or swords were sent to Jerusalem and 
Jaffa; and, relentless to the last, he forced from them 
the conscripts whom he judged necessary for his 
wide and ambitious military schemes. I saw some 
of the latter marched into Jaffa one day, between 
files of soldiers, and forced into the boats waiting to 
convey them on board his fleet, then lying off to re- 
ceive them. Poor fellows ! they looked heart-broken, 
and probably a large portion of them were destined 
never again to visit their native hills. A more me- 
lancholy company I think I have never seen; they 
dragged themselves along mechanically, without 
noticing any one, and some were able to keep on 
only by clinging to the garments of those before, or 
by being supported by a companion on either side. 
After traversing the city they came to the water- 
gate, which is a narrow passage between two towers, 
and is terminated by a wooden platform six or eight 
feet square, and projecting about five feet above the 
water. This is the only landing place ; the boats 
were lying' below; and forced along the platform, 
they were driven by the point of the bayonet, or 
caught by the shoulders and tumbled unceremoni- 
ously into a heap at the bottom of the boat, to extri- 
cate themselves and find a better place as well as 
they might be able. In spite of my commiseration, 
I could scarcely help smiling at their horror, Avhen, 



HEALTH OF THE COUNTRY. 



139 



in turning the angle of the gate- way, they found 
themselves in such proximity to the salt water. 
Some of them shrank back with all their might ; but 
it availed them nothing; the boats were successively 
filled, and pulling off, presently reached a sand-bar 
crossing the road-stead, where they began to plunge 
in the breakers ; — then each sought its separate ves- 
sel, and the mountain recruits were swallowed up in 
the vortex caused by Mohammed Ali's wild ambition. 

I must now carry the reader back to our own ship, 
which he will recollect we left, only yet approach- 
ing the coast. When within a few miles of it, our 
motions became cautious, for we knew nothing of 
the sea from experience, and our charts and books 
gave but little information. The schooner Shark was, 
by and by, ordered to approach, and directed to run 
in and inquire about the health of the city and the 
country adjoining. I got permission, and availed 
myself of a boat sent with the flag-lieutenant to her, 
determined if I should not be permitted to touch the 
Holy Land, at least to have a better view, and to get 
as near to it as possible. As we approached the 
shore, we saw a boat putting off with our national 
ensign, and concluding that it contained the consul, 
laid to till it came sufficiently near for parley. His 
answer to the first question, " What is the health of 
Jaffa and Jerusalem?" produced a sensation of thrill- 
ing joy. " Both enjoyed good health,*' he replied, 
" and the country was in a state of tolerable quiet." 
So we invited him on board, and right glad he 



140 



SYRIA. 



seemed to be, to get out of his small vessel and find 
himself on board of a larger one. But alas for our 
new-fledged joy ! The Shark presently got out to 
sea, and began to roll and pitch among the waves ; 
our consul got sea-sick, and we thought frightened 
too ; and now alarmed us with news that they had 
the plague in Jerusalem, and more than half sus- 
pected it to be in Jaffa ; that a Frank of distinction 
had just died of it in the former place — that the mo- 
nasteries had put themselves in quarantine, and that 
for us to venture there, would be highly dangerous 
and imprudent. We did not know what to make of 
this, but carried him on board the Delaware ; and 
now, in that large ship, as quiet and as firm as the 
solid land, he came to himself, and declared once 
more that the country was safe, and the cities 
healthy. As night was approaching, we ran out to 
sea to avoid the dangerous proximity of the shore ; 
and though in the morning we were some distance 
off, the consul, who had remained on board, still ad- 
hered, I believe, to his last opinion ; but the Com- 
modore, not knowing what to make of him, turned 
for information to another source. The Egyptian 
fleet cruising here in aid of Ibrahim Pasha, had 
come down and anchored in the evening about a 
mile from Jaffa, and the schooner was sent to the 
Admiral with Commodore Patterson's respects, and 
with inquiries respecting the health of the cities and 
the country between. The result was gratifying ; 
the Admiral said he had not heard of the plague 



STRANGE CONDUCT OF THE CONSUL. 141 

having been at all at Jerusalem — that it certainly 
was not there now, nor did he know of any other 
sickness in the country. The reply was accompa- 
nied with the compliments and offers of service 
usual in such intercourse of men of war. He advised 
us also to run in till within a mile or a mile and a 
half of the shore, and there anchor, as there is a 
strong current setting to the northward, and we 
might be in danger of getting entangled in some 
shoals lying eight or ten miles in that direction. 
This we accordingly did ; and then, forthwith, began 
to make preparations for our long-talked of visit. A 
word more, however, about our consul, before he is 
dismissed. He accompanied us to Jerusalem, and 
was a great annoyance from first to last. The Com- 
modore had reason from other sources to suppose 
him unworthy of his office, and took measures im- 
mediately to have him removed, and another person, 
one of merit, to be put in his place ; and before 
long we had the pleasure of being informed that all 
this was done ; and Americans who may hereafter 
visit Jaffa, will doubtless meet with courteous and 
gentlemanly treatment. 

Jaffa, to which we made several visits while pre- 
paring for the journey, proved, on closer inspection, 
to be a filthy and wretched-looking place. The 
streets were of course narrow, that is common in ail 
eastern towns ; in addition, however, those of Jaffa 
go straight up a hill so steep as to require steps cut 
in the rock, and as these steps are worn, and often 



142 



SYRIA. 



slippery and covered with filth, a walk through the 
town is one of some labor, and we did not often at- 
tempt it. Indeed there is little to tempt a person to 
do so, as the city is not large, and has not a single 
building of any importance. I ought to mention 
one street as an exception to the general character. 
It starts at the water-gate, and stretching along by 
the city wall, on the sea shore, is sufficiently level ; 
on the land side of this are ranges of small ware- 
houses, which were nearly empty at the time of our 
visit, and in no wise abstracted from the dull mo- 
notony of the place. By and by, this street turns 
into the city, and beginning to ascend a low emi- 
nence, becomes the principal bazaar, or, I believe I 
should say, the bazaar, of the place. The shops 
which line it on either side were poorly furnished, 
and I found nothing to interest me in the whole ba- 
zaar, except some bunches of grapes. But these did 
interest me. One of them I am certain was two feet 
in length, not, however, with grapes thickly cluster- 
ing along, but scattered at intervals ; it was thus not 
so remarkable for the quantity of fruit, but for its 
length ; and I can easily imagine that where such 
clusters are common, some of similar length, and 
fully charged with fruit, may easily be found. On 
my speaking of this cluster to some of the officers, 
they told me that they had seen others in the market 
still larger. 

Along this bazaar I witnessed a scene, the evening 
of my return from Jerusalem, which caused the 



ORIENTAL STORY-TELLER. 



143 



place, with all its previous dulness, to leave a pleas- 
ing impression on my mind. Darkness had, on this 
occasion, gathered round us, while yet some distance 
from the city, and I had been riding on, engaged in 
sad musings about the country and its melancholy 
history ; we crossed at length the open waste be- 
tween the gardens and the city, and then passing be- 
neath the dark archway of the gate, and over its 
pavement of loose and slippery stones, I found my- 
self suddenly amid a group, which conjured up at 
once all that I had read in the Arabian Nights. Just 
inside this gate is a coffee house, in front of which 
the street spreads out into two or three times its 
usual width. The place was now all lighted up 
with lamps, hung upon pillars, or amid the trellis 
work supporting a large grape vine, or to the over- 
hanging vines themselves ; mats were strewed 
around, and thickly occupied with groups in the rich 
and striking costume of the east ; some were sipping 
coffee or sherbet, and others engaged with their 
pipes ; but all were gazing with kindling eyes and 
animated features on a man who stood in the midst, 
with outstretched arms and great volubility of tongue. 
He was an oriental story-teller, and, to judge from 
the deep and unusual interest stamped on the features 
of his audience, must have been one of quick saga- 
city and considerable eloquence. Further on I pass- 
ed another company similarly employed. 

But though Jaffa may have but little to attract a 
stranger, its gardens will have much, particularly if 



144 



SYRIA. 



he happen to be there in the season for its water- 
melons, as was the case with us. We had heard a 
great deal about the Jaffa watermelons, and our ex- 
pectations were so highly raised, that any thing short 
of the highest perfection would have disappointed 
us. But we were not disappointed. The melons 
are not unusually large, but of a richness and deli- 
cacy which, I believe, is no where surpassed, if it 
can be equalled. Some of our officers thought they 
had sometimes met with as good melons at home, 
but most of them were decided in the preference for 
those from the Jaffa gardens.* These gardens 
commence a few hundred yards from the walls of the 
city, and are from a quarter to half a mile in length ; 
the soil is almost a pure sand, and seems incapable 
of producing any thing at all ; but wherever watered, 
rewards the labor of the operator with abundance of 
fruits and vegetables of the greatest variety. Pome- 
granates here are in the highest perfection, and the 
cactus, or prickly pear, grows to the height of twelve 
or fifteen feet ; along the road to Jerusalem it forms 
a hedge for the gardens, and a most effectual one it 
is. Its fruit grows on the edge of the leaf, and in 
these countries is oval in shape, and jibout three 

* A very large number of the seeds were sent home by us that 
autumn, and were planted by our friends last summer. They pro- 
duced vines in abundance, and fruit ; but I have heard of but one 
melon that came to maturity ; this one was spoken of as very de- 
licious. The failure of the others was perhaps owing to the short- 
ness and coldness of the season. 



GARDENS OP JAFFA. 



145 



inches in length ; it is full of seeds, but is cooling and 
refreshing, and has, to me, an agreeable taste. Back 
of the gardens of Jaffa, the country is generally 
open and deserted ; but in spots it is cultivated, and 
appears to be sufficiently productive. 



13 



146 



CHAPTER XII. 

Start for Jerusalem. Appearance of our Cavalcade. Djerid play- 
near Jaffa. Plain of Sharon. Night ride. Ramla. The Cadi's 
theory about Earthquakes. Beth-Horon. Entrance to the Hill- 
Country. Aboo Ghoosh. David's Brook. First view of Jeru- 
salem. Difficulty in getting accommodations. Greek Monastery. 
Distressful night. 

Our joy at finding all obstacles removed, and that 
we were actually going to visit Jerusalem, was great 
indeed. The visit had been a subject of pleasing 
anticipation from the beginning of the cruise, and a 
disappointment here would have cast a damp upon 
all our other pleasures. But here we were at last, 
ashore at Jaffa, mounted and ready to be off ; every 
face cheerful, and our hearts swelling with expected 
enjoyment. We wound through the low bazaar, 
and then slipping and stumbling over the execrable 
pavement of the gateway, found ourselves out in the 
country, and fairly on our way. And here we turned 
to look at each other, and enjoy the oddity and gro- 
tesqueness of the scene. We were, indeed, a curious 
looking set of pilgrims. As we arrived ashore, there 
was a general scrambling for the animals, which, by 
orders of the governor of Jaffa, had been brought in 
from the country for the occasion ; and as these in- 
cluded every variety, and there was little time for 
choosing, it was amusing to see the mal-agreement 
which often occurred between man and beast. A 



OUR CAVALCADE. 



147 



stout and heavy man might be seen sweating and 
toiling along on the hack of one of the most diminu- 
tive of donkeys ; a graceful cavalier, who prided him- 
self on his horsemanship, and had selected what 
appeared to be a fine-looking Arab, found himself on 
an asthmatic animal, which neither whip nor the 
pins stuck into his boots for lack of spurs, could 
force from a sluggish walk. Then came along a 
young midshipman, on a streak of lightning, cling- 
ing to the mane or saddle, and agape to find himself 
in a situation where his superior officers, and even 
the Commodore, were glad to yield the deck to him. 
His horse, brought up on the wild hills, is uncon- 
scious how sadly he is violating naval etiquette ; and 
away they go, till a turn in the road hides them from 
our sight. "Give my Jack a punch," cries one, 
" the nasty beast, I can't get him to move ;" while at 
the act, Jack suddenly finds the use of his hinder 
quarters, and the puncher, from being a grave-look- 
ing personage, suddenly takes to hopping and sing- 
ing, and working his features into the oddest gri- 
mace. Some of our company had no animals at 
all, and others were debating whether they had not 
better leave those they had ; while the animals them- 
selves stood straight up to second the motion. 
My friend M — — , thinking perhaps that necessity 
hath no law, stepped up coolly to a horse fastened 
to a bit of shrubbery, and having loosed him, and 
thrown his Turkey rug over the saddle, seated him- 
self on the top of it ; concluding, with good reason. 



148 



SYRIA. 



that the owner would soon be after him, and that he 
could then, perhaps, make a bargain for the beast. 
It turned out that the horse belonged to a soldier 
going our way, and who, on promise of a bakshish, 
or present, agreed to this impudent arrangement ; 
but the next morning horse and soldier were miss- 
ing, and with them the fine large Turkey rug, — 
showing how universally we may apply the counsel, 
" set a rogue to catch a rogue." 

Amid this scene of confusion, the general attention 
was directed to the family group at the head of the 
party, a group respected and beloved by all of us ; and 
it was gratifying, in the cheerful looks of the ladies, to 
find that they were rather amused than dismayed 
by the necessary discomforts of this new kind of 
travelling. We got, by and by, into pretty good 
order, and moved cheerily on. Our company con- 
sisted of the Commodore, lady, and three daughters, 
the consul and lady, thirty-six lieutenants, midship- 
men, &c, twelve petty officers and servants ; and 
muleteers in addition sufficient to make a party in 
all, of more than seventy persons. 

Nearly every individual was armed, and our war- 
like accoutrements, as well as the rest of our fitting 
out, had a broad dash of the picturesque. 

While we were getting ready for amove, an old sea- 
man came up to me, and begged hard that I would 
get him permission to accompany us. "Why, 
W— — I replied, " I don't see what reason I can give 
for it that fifty others might not urge, and besides, 



INTEREST IN THE JOURNEY. 



149 



you have no donkey — you see every thing with four 
legs to it is already taken up. 53 " Oh." he replied, 

" ask to allow me to walk by and take care of 

the sedan ; and as to a donkey, I doirt need one, I 
am willing to walk all the way.*' I succeeded in 
the application, and had forgotten the circumstance, 
till one day, eighteen months after, when the crew 

had been discharged, W came up to me on the 

wharf at Norfolk, and, taking my hand, said I had 
conferred a favor on him which he would remember 
to the last day of his life. I asked him what it was : 
" Oh, 5 ' he replied, - you got me permission to go to 
Jerusalem." 

When I returned from the Holy City, I brought 
back a quantity of olive root from the Mount of Olives, 
and giving it to the carpenter on board ship to saw 
it up, on going to the bench, I found the seamen 
around, catching the sawdust, and picking the earth 
from the holes among the roots. So strong was the 
feeling of interest with which the proximity of the 
city had inspired us. 

It may be supposed, then, that we wound along 
among the gardens of Jaffa with cheerful alacrity. 
The road is sandy and toilsome, but is bordered with 
shrubbery interwoven with the huge cactus, and gay 
flowers were pendant on every side. We had left 
the city at 4 P. M.; and the sun, now throwing its 
rays slantingly among the blossoms and foliage, gave 
them their richest effect. About a mile from the walls 
we came to a Turkish fountain, about twenty feet in 

13* 



150 



SYRIA. 



height, and highly ornamented. The road bends at 
this place, and soon after ascends a range of low- 
hills, where cultivation ceases, and the traveller finds 
himself in the open country, without enclosure or 
habitation in sight. 

A number of the European consuls, and other 
gentlemen resident in Jaffa, had done us the honor 
to accompany us thus far. They were mounted on 
fine spirited Arabs, and now driving the shovel- 
shaped stirrup into their horses' sides, flew up the 
hill side, and at length, brought at the summit in bold 
relief against the sky, they formed a picture such as 
is seen only in these glowing eastern countries. 
They wore the native costume, presenting a variety 
of brilliant and fanciful colors ; and in this case the 
dress was perfectly clean, and evidently put on with 
careful and studied effect . Having presently reached 
a level piece of ground, they scattered, and com- 
menced the djerid, a play in which the Arabs greatly 
delight, and which is adapted to bring out the pow- 
ers both of horse and rider, and show them to fine 
advantage. Each horseman is furnished with a 
stick of some tough material, four or five feet 
in length, and of the thickness of the middle finger ; 
they divide about equally, and each selecting an op- 
ponent, the effort is to strike the adversary with the 
rod. In doing this they pursue each other at the 
top of the horse's speed, often bring him to a halt so 
suddenly as to throw him on his haunches, whirl 
at an instant's warning, hang by the leg and arm so 



PLAIN OP SHARON. 



151 



as to avoid the whizzing rod, catch it in the air, or, 
while the horse is at full speed, snatch it from the 
ground, and turning, become the pursuer till the rod 
is discharged, or the adversary has again recovered 
one in his turn. It is an exciting and highly ani- 
mated sport, and was kept up on the large plain, now 
on our right, now on the left, till one or two of the 
company became provoked by some well-dealt 
blows, and the play began to look serious ; while a 
few showed by their soiled dresses that they had 
come in closer contact with the ground than was 
pleasant. Kind feeling was, however, soon restored 
by some smart hits in return, and the play wound 
up in good-humor ; after which, our Arab guide, 
with his long, slender spear, once more putting him- 
self at the head of our party, our friends wheeled 
their steeds, and having made a graceful salaam, 
darted over the hill on their return to Jaffa, and 
were soon out of sight. 

We were now fairly on the celebrated Plain of 
Sharon ; but times have sadly changed, and we 
might have looked in vain for roses or any other 
shrub. The road laid through a country not abso- 
lutely flat, and yet scarcely undulating ; with scarce- 
ly a tree, and no where presenting any sign of culti- 
vation. Towards sunset, however, we found our- 
selves approaching an olive grove, beyond which, on 
our left, was a wretched looking village of ten or a 
dozen houses ; also a ruin of large dimensions, which 
we had not time to examine. Beyond this thecoun- 



152 



SYRIA. 



try assumed the same open and deserted appear- 
ance ; and, except a fountain which we passed a few 
miles onward, there was nothing to show that it was 
the habitation of men. Darkness, by and by, began 
to fall around us, we drew our company into a more 
compact form, and having examined our arms, pass- 
ed on in silence ; a spirit of sadness and musing, ex- 
cited probably by the melancholy nature of the 
country, having apparently seized on the whole of 
our party. 

We were now in what was formerly the territory 
of the tribe of Dan. their possessions, I believe, hav- 
ing extended from the sea inward to a distance of 
thirty miles, and about twelve from north to south. 
Of Dan, it was said by his father Jacob, that he was 
" a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that bi- 
teth the horse-heels, so that his rider shall fall back." 
And the position which long afterwards fell by lot 
to this tribe, appears to have been adapted to pro- 
duce or to cherish such a trait of character. 

Two thirds of the great highway from Jerusalem 
to its sea-port Joppa, laid through their territory ; and 
the long winding ravine by which this road ascends 
from the plain of Sharon into the mountainous re- 
gion that encircles Jerusalem, affords admirable fa- 
cilities for plundering. Until very recently, the up- 
per extremity of this ravine was occupied by Aboo 
Ghoosh, at the head of a set of daring fellows, 
who regularly laid contributions on travellers ; while 
a village near the other extremity bore no better re- 



ABOO GHOOSH. 



153 



putation. Dr. Clarke's baggage was seized upon 
and carried to the latter town, where he had great 
difficulty in recovering it ; and, more recently, the 
French traveller, De la Martine, found it prudent by 
judicious means to secure in season the good favor 
of Aboo Ghoosh. This robber-chief, whose power 
extended over a large tract of country, and was well 
systematized, has recently been appointed by the 
Pasha of Egypt to a high office in Jerusalem ; and 
we saw him on our visit enthroned in his new state, 
where he seems ill at ease. Mohammed Ali has 
thus removed a nuisance and secured a powerful 
friend ; but it is not probable that his robber-propen- 
sities will be greatly checked by these new dignities. 

When shall this desert region rejoice and blossom 
as the rose, and when shall we be able to speak of 
"the excellency of Carmel and Sharon?" — "The 
highways" now " lie waste, and the wayfaring man 
ceaseth ; Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down, and 
Sharon is like a wilderness." — Though it is sad to 
look at a plain like this of Sharon, about eighty 
miles in length by twenty in width, and of extensive 
fertility, and bordering also on the sea, yet now 
little more than a desert waste ; though sad, there is 
nothing very remarkable in it, for it is the character 
of many such plains in Asia ; but there is something 
very remarkable when we think of this country in 
connexion with the strange people whose father- 
land it is, a people who are over the whole face 
of our globe, an astonishment, a proverb, and a 



154 



SYRIA. 



by- word ; turning ever with warm desires towards 
the home of their fathers ; yet still " scattered among 
ail people, from one end of the earth to the other," 
and among them finding no ease nor rest, but dis- 
tressed " with a trembling heart and failing of eyes, 
and sorrow of mind" — outcasts every where, the 
c * heaven over their head is brass, and the earth under 
their feet is iron." I do not see how a man can read 
the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, and be satisfied 
that it was written at the time it purports to be, and 
yet remain an infidel ; and that it was written at 
that time, is a matter capable of very easy proof. I 
have seen the Jews in a great many countries ; and 
if we were to sit down to describe their condition, 
we could not find terms to express it more accurately 
than is done in that chapter, penned 3287 years ago. 

About nine o'clock we discovered lights ahead, 
and haard the barking of dogs, and soon after entered 
Ramla, the ancient Arimathea, which was to be our 
stopping-place for the night. Here, to our surprise, 
we found also an agent of our government, a vice- 
consul appointed by the consul at Jaffa, to whom, I 
believe, he had paid a consideration for the office. 
He was an Armenian gentleman, apparently wealthy, 
and certainly kind and hospitable. Our arrival had 
been expected, and every thing grateful to hungry 
and wearied pilgrims had been provided. Tables 
were loaded with fowls and mutton, and with the 
delicious water-melons of Jaffa, as well as abundance 
of other fruits, and with wine. When our large 



RAMLA. 



155 



company had all been fed, such conveniences as the 
house afforded for sleeping were freely given up to 
us ; our host all the while sitting unobtrusively at 
one side of the eating room, and seldom speaking, 
except to order additional supplies of refreshments. 
However, Mon. Damon, the consul at Jaffa, who 
with his lady had come with us, in order that the 
credit for the entertainment might not be lost, took 
,it all to himself; bustling about, and telling us that 
the house was his own, that he had provided the 
feast, and bidding us welcome. I am happy to be 
able to add, that through the influence of Commo- 
dore Patterson, this gentleman, Mr. Marcus Abers, 
has since received an appointment independent of 
the consulate at Jaffa. We received, with the free- 
dom of sailors, what was so freely and generously 
offered; and when, in the morning, our caterer, after 
some hesitation on the score of delicacy, offered re- 
muneration, as the company was so large and mis- 
cellaneous, it was declined, and the party was cordi- 
ally invited to repeat the visit on our return. 

Kamla has at present little to detain a traveller, 
though it was formerly a city of considerable dimen- 
sions ; its population now is about 3,000, principally 
Mahommedans and Christians of the Greek church. 
At the borders on the western side, thirty miles from 
Jerusalem, are some vast subterranean apartments 
belonging to the ancient times of the city. One is 
one hundred and fifty feet long by forty in width, 
and is twenty-five feet deep ; the second and 



156 



SYRIA. 



third are each seventy feet square, and of the same 
depth as the former. Adjoining the second, is a 
tower twenty-five feet square, and still one hundred 
feet in height, and a conspicuous object at a great 
distance on the plain. Our time did not admit of a 
visit to these ruins, and for the dimensions I am in- 
debted to Mr. Thompson, by whom they have been 
described. Mr. Thompson was at Ramla during 
the recent earthquake, and heard a debate on its 
causes by the learned men of the city. The Cadi, 
or Judge, spoke at last, and with gravity suitable to 
his high station, gave his solution of the phenomenon. 
" The earth," he said, " has seven foundations ; the 
first, water ; second, air ; third, a mountain ; fourth, 
a cushion; fifth, (Mr. T. does not recollect;) sixth, 
a great rock ; and seventh, the horn of the great ox. 
When the ox becomes fatigued, he changes the rock 
from one horn to the other, and that caused the 
shaking." 

After some slight refreshment, at an early hour on 
the 16th we resumed our journey, and soon found 
ourselves once more breathing the country air. We 
passed some ruins on our right just after leaving the 
city, and also, soon after this, a company of about 
200 cavalry at drill on the plain. Our road, I ought 
to have remarked before this, was not directly across 
the plain, but in a slanting direction, Jerusalem 
being situated a little to the south of east from Jaffa. 
The distance from Ramla is thirty miles. We de- 
scended two or three steep banks, separated from each 



BETH-HORON. 



157 



other by intervals of several miles, and thus arrived, 
at length, at the lowest level of the plain, which ap- 
pears to consist of this level, and, on the west of it, of a 
succession of terraces, each about forty feet in height, 
and three or four miles in width. The country, 
during our morning ride, was not of so melancholy 
a cast as on the day previous, patches of millet or 
indian corn occurring here and there, with other 
signs of cultivation ; but the sun now beat upon us 
with scorching power. About ten o'clock we passed a 
miserable village close on our left, and an hour after, 
a cone-shaped eminence on our right, with some 
ruins, supposed to be the remains of Beth-Horon, 
noticed in 2 Chron. viii. 5. 1 Samuel, xiii. 18.* 

The hill is about 400 feet in height, and in most 
parts is of difficult ascent ; it was well adapted for 
defence, and the extensive and massive ruins on the 
top show that it was a place of considerable strength. 
This was probably the upper city : for the site of 
the " Nether-Beth-Horon," we must look among the 
broken ground that skirts the lower part of the emi- 
nence. This was a place of importance, as it com- 
mands the entrance of the winding ravine, along 
which the road ascends from the plain into the 
mountainous district, or what is called in the first 
chapter of John, the "hill country" of Judea. 

The entrance into this ravine is about two miles 
east from Beth-Horon ; and as it stood gaping before 

.* See also Josephus, BelL Jud. } Lib. II, chap, xix. § 2 and 8, 

14 



158 



SYRIA. 



us, with the mountains on either side towering to a 
great height, while the representations of travellers 
had led us to expect beyond it only mountains, still 
darker and more dreary, we turned some reluctant 
looks backward towards the plain. The roads over 
these mountains we had been also informed by Mr. 
Damon, were the worst possible ; but in this latter re- 
spect we were to meet with an agreeable disappoint- 
ment. One of the consuls at Jaffa, a merchant, (I 
believe the Sardinian consul,) in order to divert the 
trade of the Mecca and Jerusalem caravans from Da- 
mascus to his own city, had lately put the road in 
excellent order. In many places he had blasted 
rocks, and at others had built up walls ; the opera- 
tion had been an expensive one, and the enterprise 
of the gentleman merits a better reward than I am 
afraid it will receive. 

As we were entering the ravine, we met a com- 
pany of Egyptian soldiers ; and, further on, in a nar- 
row part, encountered a much larger force, returning 
to the west. They had with them a great number 
of camels Joaded with baggage and accoutrements, 
and often with field-pieces, some of the latter (brass 
six pounders) being lashed to spars which were 
fastened to the backs of two camels, one before the 
other. The soldiers, though the balance of power 
was greatly on their side, were very civil ; and in no 
instance showed a disposition to offer annoyance, or 
give us unnecessary trouble. It was in this pass that 



HILL COUNTRY OF JUDEA. 



159 



the Roman army, under Cestius, were almost totally- 
destroyed. 

We found the ascent up to the ravine, though long, 
yet far from being toilsome. At the summit, at a 
spot commanding a view of all the plain of Sharon 
and the sea beyond, we stopped in an olive grove for 
dinner. This was near the village of the ex-robber, 
prince Aboo Ghoosh ; but a change has come over 
the country under the sovereignty of Mohammed 
Ali, for the people did not even come to look at us. 

Descending again, we passed, at the bottom of a 
valley, a village, on the borders of which is a large 
church belonging to the time of the crusades. A 
more desolate scene than presented itself as we 
wound up the hills beyond this village cannot be 
easily imagined. The rocks in all this region are 
secondary limestone, and the hills, consequently, are 
rounded, presenting few bold peaks or precipitous 
ridges ; but all was gray rock from the bottom to the 
summit, and the senses became pained by the gloomy 
monotony of the scene, a wide and dreary waste of bare 
rocks. By and by, descending again, we found our- 
selves in a valley watered by a rivulet, and with some 
fields and a vineyard; but soon plunged again into the 
same succession of bare rocky hills, where not a tree 
nor shrub was to be seen, and not a living thing, 
except a bird now and then whirling in its solitary 
flight. A steep descent brought us at length into the 
narrow defile where occurred the battle between 
Ibrahim Pasha and the rebels already noticed ; and 



160 



SYRIA. 



skeletons of horses were still scattered by the road 
side. This pass is also a favorite haunt of robbers ; par- 
ticularly at a spot where a bridge crosses a dry chan- 
nel which winds through the bottom of the valley. — 
Siste viator. This channel, now dry 7 but covered 
by a considerable stream in winter, is that from 
which David selected pebbles for his sling when 
going to meet Goliah ; I believe, however, this event 
occurred some distance further down. We passed 
this bridge on our return an hour before daylight ; 
and, as we approached, an officer of the Pasha's 
household who accompanied us, made the party halt 
and form into compact order ; and then had the 
bridge reconnoitred before he allowed us to proceed. 
There was no one there, but further on, at the battle 
ground, a strange horseman rode up and passed us 
several times, as if scrutinizing our company, and 
others were seen on the other side of the glen ; but 
apparently they did not like our equipment, as they 
gave us no further trouble. 

Having crossed this bridge, we were now in con- 
stant expectation of getting sight of Jerusalem ; and 
as we approached the summit of a long hill, our 

caterer, Lieutenant S ■, made the officers in the 

van fall back, so that Mrs. Patterson might be the 
first to advance and catch a view of the sacred city. 
But we were to be disappointed ; it was not in sight, 
and these disappointments occurred so often, that at 
length we grew less earnest in our look out ahead. 
Evening was fast approaching, and just as distant 



FIRST VIEW OF JERUSALEM. 161 

objects were beginning to grow indistinct, a sudden 
rise on the road brought to view some white build- 
ings far off, and a little to our left. A sudden cry of 
" Jerusalem" burst from the foremost, and all hurried 
forward to enjoy the welcome sight ; again, however, 
we were mistaken. But, a few minutes after this, 
while we were gazing at the objects just described, 
and debating whether they were the sacred city or not, 
a long white wall, with battlements and towers, pre- 
sented itself suddenly right before us ; and then arose 
a general cry of joyful surprise— -for this tve knew 
to be Jerusalem. I believe there was not one of us 
who was not affected with powerful emotions ; and 
among these feelings was generally a sensation of 
pleasing surprise at the imposing appearance of the 
city ; for whether it was owing to its contrast to the 
small group of houses we had been looking at, or to 
the manner in which it bursts upon us in a dreary 
desert, or whether there was sufficient cause for this 
in the city itself, I cannot say ; but the first impres- 
sion was certainly a very favorable one. 

The city, as viewed from the west, presents a 
stretch of wall about two thirds of a mile in length, 
battlementedand strengthened with numerous towers, 
and, at the Jaffa gate, which is midway along, fortified 
with heavy castles. South of this gate, the walls stand 
on the edge of a ravine or valley sixty feet in depth 
and two hundred feet wide, and at this part, particu- 
larly, the effect is very bold and striking. As we ap- 

14* 



162 



SYRIA. 



proached, battlement and turret were here thrown 
out into strong relief against the clear evening sky. 

This was our first view and first impression of Je- 
rusalem. To myself, however, little time was given 
for observation. The Commodore called for me ; 
and telling me that as this was a city in the line of 
my profession, they must look to me to provide 
quarters for the company — said he wished me to 
ride forward rapidly, and see where we could find 
accommodations. So I changed my humble donkey 
for a spirited steed, and taking for interpreter a 
young Arab officer who had accompanied us from 
Jaffa, set forward at a pace that made us look more 
like crusading knights at a tilt than peaceable pil- 
grims. The gates, which are usually closed at sun- 
set, we found were kept open in expectation of the 
arrival of our party, and a large number of citizens 
were standing in groups without. On our drawing 
up and inquiring the way to the house of Mr. Nicho- 
layson, the missionary from England, he himself stept 
forward and gave us a hearty welcome. His house 
he immediately placed at our disposal, but on his in- 
quiring how many there might be in the party, and 
receiving my answer, " I think about seventy," he 
stood aghast. A company of seven or a dozen, the 
number as he had supposed our company, he could 
readily accommodate, and his house was cordially 
at our service for as many as it would hold ; but 
where to find accommodations for seventy he could 
not tell, some of the monasteries, the usual resort 



DIFFICULTY IN PROCURING QUARTERS. 163 

of pilgrims, being now, he said, in quarantine on ac- 
count of the plague. We turned into the city, how- 
ever, to make an effort; and crossing an irregular 
open area, and then winding down some dark nar- 
row streets, stopped at length at a low gate in the 
face of a high massy wall. It admitted us into the 
chief Latin convent ; but the Prior, on our being 
presented, said that nearly all the building was in 
quarantine, some of the monks having recently died 
of the plague, and that an adjacent establishment be- 
longing to his order was in a similar situation. 
Foiled here, we proceeded on a little further, and on 
applying, though with reluctance, at the Greek con- 
vent, were successful ; their large building, forming 
a hollow square with a court in the centre, being 
given up to us. We returned forthwith, and found 
that our company had already entered the city, and in 
attempting to follow us, had got jammed up in one 
of the narrow streets, where a scene of vexatious and 
yet amusing confusion was just commencing ; the 
baggage mules with their broad panniers and pro- 
jecting loads sticking fast between the opposite 
houses, and, in their efforts to extricate themselves, 
taking little note of rank or office ; while torches 
glancing here and there upon pistol and cutlass, and 
the dusty, and jaded, and sometimes disconsolate 
looking features of our companions, mixed up with 
the wild and curious gaze of the natives, assisted in 
making up a singular scene. They had just learned 
the result of our application at the Latin convent; 



164 



SYRIA. 



and to a wearied man, the idea of passing the night 
in such rough and odoriferous streets as these, could 
not be a pleasing one. They were highly gratified 
to find that we had at length been able to procure 
quarters. The Commodore and his family were in- 
vited to the house of Mr. Nicholayson, where, among 
the kind and agreeable members of his family, they 
soon found themselves in a pleasant home ; while 
the rest of us, passing through the low strong portal 
of the convent, and emerging by and by from the 
dark narrow passage, into the enclosed court, turned 
to see what species of accommodation we were to 
have. The prospect seemed melancholy enough. 
* Around the court was a range of buildings, three 
fourths of which were given up to us, the remaining 
fourth being occupied by the Prior's rooms and 
offices of the church, and by the church itself. The 
lower part of our portion of the edifice was occupied 
as stables, kitchen, granary, &c; and gave also ac- 
commodation to some of our party. Ascending from 
this by a large stairway, we entered on a platform 
passing around three sides of the court, with a para- 
pet along its interior edge, while on its opposite 
border was a range of cells, which we found on in- 
quiry were to be our dormitories. Tired as we were, 
we recoiled from the sight of them. They were 
usually about eight or nine feet square, and so low 
that a person could scarcely stand upright in them ; 
a broken door, a hole for a window, a stone or 
mortar floor, and a thin reed mat, and dust in the 



OUR LODGINGS IN JERUSALEM. 165 

greatest abundance — this was the sight that presented 
itself as we came to examine our dornicils. Some 
joked, some took it all in quiet, and some said " it 
was really^ too bad." But uncomfortable as these 
abodes appeared to us, other creatures did not seem 
to think them so, for they were really well tenanted; 
and when our lights were extinguished, and we had 
wrapped ourselves each in his blanket, and had 
stretched ourselves on the stone floor, we soon dis- 
covered how far from solitary was the life of our friends 
the monks. Our chambers were alive with lillipu- 
tians, which immediately commenced an attack on us. 
As D., and S., and myself, were lying in our little 
room, we first heard some notes of distress on the* 
outside, and occasionally an exclamation of " Hollo, 
are you out here too V and then there was a general 
cry — " I can't bear this any longer and we rushed 
out to the platform to which we found every cell 
ejecting its inmates. We did not get asleep until 
nature, towards morning, was absolutely worn out, 
when the fleas, having worried us into utter ex- 
haustion, were allowed to gorge themselves at their 
leisure. The reader may perhaps think that I might 
have spared him this scene, which is not a pleasant 
one, and must jar on the feelings of one who would 
come with other sensations, and be occupied with 
other thoughts, in this city of solemn and touching 
associations : but my impression is, that he would 
like to see the modern city as it is, and I wish also, 
as far as possible, to make him also a traveller, and 



166 



SYRIA. 



carry him along with us ; this is no exaggerated pic- 
tare of our first night, and may be taken as a sample 
of the rest. Jerusalem, however, is not alone in this ; 
but the whole of this region, from the cataracts of 
the Nile- to Constantinople, is teeming with fleas. 
We thought, however, that this city was peculiarly 
infested with them, and were informed that in the 
most cleanly houses, no care could keep any part 
of the building free from them. 

The night passed away at length, and ushered in 
a brilliant dawn, such as is not often seen except in 
these eastern countries, where the thin and scanty 
exhalations are just sufficient, without obscuring 
any portions of the landscape, to tinge all with roseate 
and purple hues. 



167 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Morning view of the city. Glance at the localities. Question with 
regard to the place of the Crucifixion. Its practical nature. Scene 
usually sketched in the mind . The event probably more humili ating 
in its attendant circumstances. Traditions forced upon the visitor 
to Jerusalem. Their effect on the mind. Danger of such visits 
to those who will not separate truth from error. " El Devoto 
JPeregrino." Dr. Clarke. 

I arose early on the morning of the 16th ; the 
sun was shining bright, and the atmosphere had a 
freshness and a balminess quite exhilarating. Having 
made a hasty toilet, I placed a ladder against our range 
of cells, and climbing to the flat roof, by which they 
were covered, gazed around ; and now, for the first 
time, felt that I was really in Jerusalem. 

Immediately east of the city, and separated from it 
by a narrow valley or ravine, was a mountain large 
enough to command our respect by its vastness, and 
yet not too large for gracefulness and beauty. I 
knew it at once to be the Mount of Olives. It has 
three summits, one in the centre and one at each 
extremity ; they are of nearly equal height, and when 
viewed from the city present for their outline a 
gentle and beautiful curve. A large part of it is 
covered with olive trees, particularly the central and 
northern summits and declivities ; and they still form 
so striking a feature, that if the mountain were now 



168 



SYRIA. 



to be named, we should be apt to call it the Mount of 
Olives. 

Nearer to me, and just within the city walls, on 
the east, was a large open place, and from the centre 
of this rose an octangular edifice of considerable 
beauty ; I had seen pictures of it, and recognized it 
as the mosque of Omar, standing on the supposed 
site of the Temple of Solomon. There at least was 
undoubtedly Mount Moriah, and my own eyes were 
gazing upon it. 

I turned from it soon, however, to look for a spot 
of still more absorbing interest. Where was Mount 
Calvary? Not far from me rose two domes, one 
somewhat peaked, the other one more obtuse, but 
very large. In all directions, however, were domes 
of various sizes, and the mind was puzzled, though 
still arrested by the position as well as the magni- 
tude of these two. A couple of old and venerable 
looking monks were hanging over the parapet of a 
neighboring convent watching my motions, and 
turning to inquire of them, I found my surmise had 
been correct. This was the church of Mount Cal- 
vary and of the Holy Sepulchre. — " Put off thy shoes 
from off thy feet , for the place whereon thou standest is 
holy ground." — " At least," a voice seemed to say to 
me, " walk here with seriousness and humility ; bow 
thy head, and cleanse thy heart, and tread with 
meekness the ground trod by Him who was here 
humbled for thee, and here bore thy sins upon the 
cross." It was the Sabbath also — this first day of 



FIRST MORNING AT JERUSALEM. 169 

our visit ; and the quiet and healthful influence of 
that holy season was added to the power which 
Jerusalem would at any time have exercised upon 
the heart. 

I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Imagi- 
nation in its highest flights has not pictured a scene 
that will compare in interest, or in deep and search- 
ing pathos, with the reality here displayed in the re- 
demption of man. It partakes of the character of 
all the works of God, combining a simplicity that 
opens it to the comprehension of all men, with a 
grandeur and sublimity that must excite the admira- 
tion of the highest seraphim. I have seen it where 
I have seen man's proud philosophy quail and shrink 
into nothingness — in the sick room and by the dying 
bed ; I have seen it come gently and quietly, and 
open the feeble lips in praise, and in utterance of 
joyful and triumphant hope. I have seen it sustain 
and cheer those whom the world, and the world's 
enjoyments and earthly hopes too, had all deserted, 
and who would otherwise have been left in madden- 
ing solitude and wretchedness ; I have seen it sus- 
tain them ; and while the body was tortured with 
pains, I have seen it raise the mind superior to bodily 
feeling, and while the cold sweat was breaking out 
upon the brow, keep that brow calm and serene. 
The tortured child of clay thought of his Saviour's 
humiliation and pains, and of the glory wrought out 
for him ; and, in the boundless love that led to the 
sufferings of Calvary, found assurance that God was 

15 



170 



SYRIA. 



even now a friend closer than a brother, and would 
not desert him to the last. " I am not ashamed of 
the gospel of Christ crucified, for it is the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that belie veth - 
and the highest honor of my life was on that day, 
when I was permitted to walk amid scenes dignified 
and exalted by the great events of our redemption. 

It was, indeed, a day of concentrated interest and 
gratification, such as I had never experienced before, 
and do not expect ever to feel again. After break- 
fast our large company broke up into smaller parties, 
and proceeded to visit the various localities. In com- 
pany with Lieutenant F. I walked over to Mr. 
Nicholayson's, and, under the guidance of that gen- 
tleman, we went, with the Commodore and family, 
first to th£ church of Mount Calvary and of the Holy 
Sepulchre. 

But is this church really on the site of the cruci- 
fixion, and of the sepulture of our Saviour ? This 
is a question which it may be well to settle before 
proceeding further, so that we may know with what 
feelings to approach spots of such sacred and inter- 
esting titles. It is a subject on which my own mind 
is satisfied almost beyond a doubt, and if the reader 
will for a short time give me patient attention, in a 
somewhat dry and difficult examination of facts, I 
think he may find himself rewarded for his labor. 
It is true that the question with regard to the exact 
locality of these events is of little consequence, com- 
pared with the great subject of the redemption itself, 



QUERIES RESPECTING MOUNT CALVARY. 171 

and the query whether we have, by a living faith, 
made that salvation ours ; but still it is one not with- 
out its practical consequences. The mind often tries 
to picture the scene of the Saviour's sufferings, the 
uplifted bloody cross, the hours of agony, the tumul- 
tuous crowds of scoffers below ; and our feelings are 
touched, and the heart is benefitted, by contemplating 
the price that was paid for our salvation, the obli- 
gations under which we are placed by it, and the 
assurance it gives us of the surpassing love of Him 
who spared not his own Son, but gave him freely 
for us ; the whole scene is often one of pious thought 
and of pulpit description, and has frequently enlisted 
the skill of painters, and is a matter of practical in- 
terest. My impression is, that the scene we sketch 
is very seldom correct, and that the event itself had 
a depth of humiliation that our thoughts do not 
reach ; and in this I do not have reference to the 
condescension of the sufferer, but to circumstances 
connected with the locality of the suffering. Our 
thoughts, when they turn to this subject, I believe 
place before us an eminence of considerable eleva- 
tion, sloping gradually upward, and crowned at the 
summit by the crosses of our Saviour and the male- 
factors, while the slopes are all crowded with the 
excited spectators. This, I believe, is the picture that is 
generally presented to our mind ; and there is in it a 
degree of physical dignity, that the event itself, I am 
inclined to think, did not possess. On the other 
hand, if my apprehensions are correct, the cruci- 



172 



SYRIA. 



fixion was attended with every physical circum- 
stance that could make it humbling as well as pain- 
ful ; instead of being on the summit of a lofty emi- 
nence, it was on a rocky knoll at the bottom of a 
natural theatre of hills ; on one side, at the distance 
of five hundred feet, was the city wall ; on another, 
the low and wretched suburb of a suburb ; it was in 
an open place, with dusty roads to various parts of 
the city passing near it ; a thoroughfare, in short, 
where the spectacle of dust and confusion was broken 
only by a few gardens, the remains of a larger range 
of such enclosures, now nearly destroyed by the en- 
croaching suburb. 

Such is the scene which the result of my investi- 
gations, commenced there, and followed up since my 
return, places before me. I examined the ground 
in and about the city as carefully as my time would 
allow, and with the aid of Josephus, have construct- 
ed a map, which is here offered to the examination 
of the reader. In my younger days, I used to take 
great interest in maps of Jerusalem, till, finding that 
each differed from every other one, and that they 
were filled with the localities of public buildings, 
some of them evidently placed at random, I lost in a 
measure my confidence in all the plans, and as they 
furnished me with no means of judging for myself, I 
gave them up in despair ; and this is probably the 
case with many other persons. 

In this map I have laid down nothing for which 
we have not authority, and I have in every part 



AUTHORITY OF JOSEPHUS. 



173 



quoted the authorities ; so that, if the reader chooses, 
he can examine and form an opinion for himself. 
He will find that I have been guided chiefly by 
Josephus, whose descriptions of the ancient city are, 
undoubtedly, by far the most correct as well as the 
most minute that we possess.* If I have not rightly 
understood them, it has not been from the want of 
study. I have read him carefully, and compared one 
part with another, and have seized on every allusion to 
localities, and have again and again studied and 
compared, and did not stop till I had a map that 
would correspond to all such descriptions and allu- 
sions. He is, I think, deserving of our confidence ; 
for he spent much time in and about the ancient city ; 
his duties as an officer in Titus' army led him to 
examine, and as far as possible to get the admeasure- 
ments of its walls and towers ; he must at this time 
have been preparing for his work on the Jewish nation, 
and probably made his records on the ground ; and 
with a little allowance for the pride and prejudices of 
a Jew, as regards his country, seems to be a fair and 
candid narrator of events, a large part of which fell 
under his own observation. In some places he is 
obscure, and at times appears to contradict himself ; 
but a little study will enable us to understand and 

* I have been surprised as well as pleased to see the large number 
of copies of Josephus that are sold in this city [New- York.] I have 
attended the book auctions here quite frequently ; and have observed 
that there is no book of its size that meets with such a ready sale, or 
brings so good a price. The work merits all this — Josephus has not 
received the praise from literary men that he deserves. 

15* 



PLAN OF JERUSALEM. 



175 



reconcile most of these passages ; in many parts, par- 
ticularly in scenes of pathos, there is a simplicity and 
yet a force, in his descriptions, that are really admi- 
rable. 

In the map* just spoken of, I have sketched also 
the line of the present city walls, as I found it could 
be done without producing confusion, and I thought 
the reader would like to be able to see how much of 
the ground of the ancient city is occupied by the 
modern Jerusalem. 

* PLAN OF THE ANCIENT AND MODERN CITY OF 
JERUSALEM. 

The castellated lines represent the walls as they existed at the time 
of the crucifixion. 

The zigzag lines mark the supposed course of Agrippa's wall, 
erected a few years after that event. 

The dotted lines represent the walls of the present city of Jeru- 
salem. 

The square figure represents the court of the ancient temple, with 
the temple in the centre. 

REFERENCES. 

ANCIENT CITY. MODERN CITY. 

1. Castle of Hippicus. a. Jaffa Gate. 

2. Gate Gennath, or Gate of the b. Zion Gate. 

Gardens. c. St. Stephen's Gate. 

3. Tomb of the High Priest John. d. Damascus Gate. 

4. Bridge connecting the Temple e. Reputed Pool of Bethesda. 

with the upper city. /. Pool of Siloam. 

5. Supposed site of the Xistus. g. Fountain of the Virgin. 

6. Castle of Antonia. h. Garden of Gethsemane. 

i. Monuments of Absalom and 
Zachariah. 

Jc. Village of Siloa. 

I. Supposed Mount of Corrup- 
tion. 

m. Road to Jaffa. 

n. Road to Bethlehem. 



176 



SYRIA. 



The traveller to the present city, at least the Pro- 
testant traveller, is excessively annoyed at every 
step with traditions in which he cannot believe, and 
with having localities pointed out in which he can 
place no confidence whatever ; and the effect is bad 
in a great many ways. It not only disturbs sadly 
the feelings with which he would wish to walk over 
the grounds of Jerusalem, but, sickened and disgust- 
ed, he is apt to run into the opposite extreme of in- 
credulity, and reject even where there is proper 
grounds for belief. I have now before me large ex- 
tracts which I made from a book called El Devoto 
Peregrino, or "The Devout Pilgrim," published at 
Madrid in 1654, by P. F. Antonio of Castile, Commis- 
sary General of Jerusalem for Spain, and Guardian of 
Bethlehem,* in the last of which places he had spent 
a number of years. It offers a good specimen of the 
accounts of places that are thrust on the visitor to 
Jerusalem, and as it is a book of high authority, I 
will by and by give some of the extracts at length. 
In this work he points out edifices, at present stand- 
ing, and which it must be evident are comparatively 
modern structures, as the houses of Pilate, of Simon 
the Pharisee, where Mary Magdalen washed our Sa- 
viour's feet with her tears, of St. Ann, of the Rich 
Man, &c. &c; and this in the face of authentic his- 

* " El Devoto Peregrino, viage de tierra Santa, compuesto por el 
P. F. Antonio de Castillo, Predicador Apostolico Padre dela Provin- 
cia de S. Juan Baptiste y Comisario General de Jerusalem en los 
Reynos de Espana Guardian de Belem." 



EFFECT OF THEIR TRADITIONS. 177 

tory, which informs us that the city, when taken by 
Titus, was, with the exception of a few towers, level- 
led with the ground, and that a ploughshare was 
made to pass over it. There is scarcely an event of 
any description, mentioned in the New Testament 
as occurring in or about Jerusalem, of which they 
do not designate the exact locality ; and to all this 
they have added traditions so absurd as to be beyond 
all belief, to say nothing of their childishness. All 
this is repeated to the visitor to Jerusalem, and pro- 
duce a revulsion of feeling not only disagreeable but 
dangerous ; and men whose faith is not previously 
settled, or who do not like the trouble of sifting the 
truth from error, I believe would be apt to be injured 
by such a visit. And it appears to me that most 
Protestant visitors, and our missionaries also, have 
been betrayed by these feelings into an excess of 
scepticism, which has led them to reject some things 
against sound and proper evidence. We must not 
reject all because some is false, any more than we 
would reject all species of coin because some is spu- 
rious ; a wise man will be led by the fact that there 
is spurious money, to believe that there is good 
money some where; and therefore, these tales, instead 
of provoking utter scepticism, while they make us 
cautious, should at the same time lead us to suppose 
that there is ground for belief. 

Dr. Clark is the boldest of these modern sceptics ; 
for while others simply doubt, he goes further, and 
with a feeling bordering certainly on rashness^ at^ 



178 



SYRIA. 



tempts at once to designate other sites for these dis- 
tinguished events. His boldness is not more surpris- 
ing than is the small amount of evidence he produces 
for his localities ; and I believe he has had scarcely 
a single follower, among either readers at home, or 
travellers to these interesting spots. As he stands 
quite alone, the subject of wonder rather than of 
credence, we will not stop to examine his theories ; 
but proceed to notice the old belief, and the doubts 
of more cautious and moderate men. 



179 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Localities in Jerusalem that are certain. Valley of Kedron, Mount 
Moriah. Valley of the Cheesemongers. Mount Zion, its ancient 
limits. Present remains of its northern boundary. Line of the 
" Old wall." Acra. Gate of the Gardens. Limits of the city at the 
time of the crucifixion. Bezetha and the wall of Agrippa, Monu- 
ment of John. Whither our judgment, unassisted by tradition, 
leads us as regards the place of the crucifixion. Rocky Knoll. Not 
called Mount Calvary in the Scriptures. Tradition. Conclusion 
to which all this leads us. Circumstances and scene of the crucifix- 
ion. The question with regard to the spot of our Saviour's burial 

There are a few places in and about Jerusalem, 
in respect to which there can be no possible mistake. 
These are, the Mount of Olives ; the Valley of Kedron, 
sometimes called the valley of Jehoshaphat ; the brook 
Kedron ; the Valley of Hinnom ; Mount Moriah ; 
Mount Zion ; and the hill called Bezetha. The 
Mount of Olives speaks at once for itself, and has 
never been doubted by any one : it descends by a 
rapid slope down to the brook Kedron, in summer a 
dry water-course about nine feet wide, and in the wet 
season an irregular torrent : with regard to this brook, 
also, no one has ever had any doubt. This valley 
of Kedron formed the eastern boundary of the an- 
cient,* as it does now also of the modern city. Im- 
mediately after crossing the brook Kedron towards 

* Josephus, Bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. 4. § 5. Also, Antiq. lib. xiv. 
cap. 4. § 1. 



180 



SYRIA. 



the west, the ground at present commences ascend- 
ing so rapidly, as to require a zigzag path : at the 
height of about eighty feet we come to the wall, 
and to the general level of the present city. This 
slope is made up of debris, or loose stuff, composed of 
earth mixed with pottery, fragments of bricks, &c.; 
and it seems probable that the ancient wall of Be- 
zetha, standing on the line of the present rampart, 
had without it a much more precipitous descent. 

Mount Moriah is at present a piece of level ground, 
of the same elevation as those portions of the city 
immediately adjoining it on the north and west, and 
is not in any way to be distinguished from them. 
It is occupied by an open court, about 1500 feet 
long and 1000 feet in width, surrounded by a wall 
and planted with trees. In the centre is a large ob- 
long platform, paved, I believe, with marble, and 
reached by two or three steps running all around ; 
on this platform stands the mosque of Omar, which 
is said by the Turks to occupy the exact site of the 
Temple of Solomon, and is considered by them to be 
next in sanctity to the venerated Caaba, or holy 
house at Mecca. So sacred is this place in their 
eyes, that no Christian is allowed to place his foot 
within even the large enclosure. There is thus no 
mountain at present here, and if any one should 
question whether this was the situation of Mount 
Moriah, I answer that it is the only place where we 
can look for it. Mount Moriah was on the eastern 
side of the city, and adjoining the valley of Ke- 



POSITION OF MOUNT MORIAH. 181 

dron ;* the valley of the Cheesemongers, which still 
remains, formed its boundary on the south ;t and as 
the court of the temple, occupying the whole en- 
larged mountain, was 729 feetj on each side, we thus 
get both the northern and the western boundaries, 
and thus have the exact position and limits of Mount 
Moriah. It is probable that the Turks are quite cor- 
rect in saying that their mosque occupies the site of 
the ancient temple, except that the latter was at a 
much greater elevation ; Mount Moriah having, by 
artificial means, been raised to a height of about 700 
feet. This mountain was at first a rocky precipice, 
irregular both in shape and surface ; it was inclosed 
by Solomon with a square wall of the dimensions 
just described, beginning at the bottom of the valleys 
that bounded it on three sides, and rising on the east 
and south to the stupendous elevation of 729 § feet; 
on the west, from the nature of the ground he- 
low, its elevation was nearly 200 feet fess ; the in- 
terval within this was filled with earth, or formed 
into extensive suites of vaults ; a^the surface being 
brought nearly to a level, fomed an area for the 
temple and its various coupes. II At the north- westerns 
angle of the temple wa>s a tower or castle, commenced 

* Josephus, passim. 

+ Jos. Antiq. lib. xv. cap. xi. § 5. 

t Do. § 3. 

§ These dimensions seem incredible ; but this is a subject that 
will be noticed by and by. 

II Jos. Antiq. lib. viii. cap. 3. § 9. lib. xv. cap. xi. § 3. 
IT Jos. de Bel. lib. v. cap. 5. § 8. 

16 



182 



SYRIA. 



by the kings of the Asmonean race, but enlarged 
and strengthened by Herod, who gave it the name 
of Antonia, in honor of Mark Antony, his friend and 
patron. It was built on a lofty precipice 1450 feet 
in circuit, and consisted of a heavy castle in the 
centre, with a tower at each angle, that on the south- 
east being of sufficient height to overlook the courts 
of the temple * 

The opening or outlet of the valley of Tyropoeon, 
or the Cheesemongers, still remains, and is very dis- 
tinct. The ground begins to decline into it as soon 
as we leave the court of the mosque of Omar, ad- 
vancing southward ; and at the distance of about 
400 feet we come to its lowest part, and the spot 
where it is lost in the valley of Kedron. This open- 
ing is opposite a mountain, called now the Mount of 
Offence, but styled by Josephus " that other hill," 
and described by him as just south of the Mount of 
Olives. A ^hort distance up this valley we come to 
an oblong pool *unk partly in the ground, and wall- 
ed on three sides, tv e fourth being broken down ; it 
is called the Pool of Siloam, and very probably oc- 
cupies the site of the anient pool of that name 
noticed in the Scriptures. A few hundred feet above 
this pool the valley enters the modern city, and I 
believe cannot be traced any further. There can be 
no doubt that it is the ancient Tyropceon, and we 



* Antiq. lib. xv. cap. xi. § 4. 



BOUNDARIES OF MOUNT ZION. 183 

thus get a portion of the northern boundary of Mount 
Zion* 

Mount Zion had on the east the valley of Kedron, 
and on the south and west the valley of Hinnom,t or 
Gehenna, and these boundaries are now just as de- 
scribed by Josephus, except that the sides of the val- 
leys towards the city are now rendered sloping by 
the vast quantities of debris or loose stuff from the 
ancient city, instead of being perpendicular as they 
were in ancient times. That of Hinnom, on its 
southern and western sides, still presents that appear- 
ance, a bold perpendicular precipice, which it would 
be impossible to scale. This valley is described by 
Strabo (lib. xvi.) as having a depth of 60 feet and a 
width of 250, which are pretty nearly its present di- 
mensions. The wall of the ancient city was built on 
the edge of the precipice, and, according to Tacitus, 
was, in the parts thus guarded by nature, 60 feet in 
height ; on the northern side of Jerusalem, where the 
ground offered fewer advantages, it had the prodigious 
elevation of 120 feet.t It was built in a crooked or 
zigzag line, " so that they might flank the besiegers 
and cast darts on them sideways."§ 

We have thus far had what sailors call plain sail- 
ing, for no one can easily be at a loss as regards the 
eastern, southern, and a portion of the western boun- 

* Jos. de Bel. lib. v. cap. iv. § 1. 
t Ibid. 

% Tacitus Hist. Lib. v. cap. xi. 
§ lb. 



184 



SYRIA. 



claries of the ancient Jerusalem. The northern 
limits offer a subject of greater difficulty, and it is 
one also of greater importance, for on this depends 
the question whether the spot pointed out as Mount 
Calvary be really the place of the crucifixion or not. 
The objectors, including almost all Protestant visit- 
ors, say it is not and cannot be. since this spot was 
evidently within the ancient city; and both from 
the Scriptures, and from the well-known custom of 
the Jews on such occasions, we know that this 
event occurred without the walls. This subject we 
will now examine. 

The valley of Cheesemongers, commencing, as we 
have seen, just south of the temple, took a course to 
the north-westward, and formed the boundary of 
Mount Zion on the north, separating this hill from 
another on the eastward, called Acra,* probably from 
the Greek word ccxpos, high. Acra was originally a 
flatt on the summit, except at one part, where it rose 

* Jos. de Bel. lib. v. cap. iv. § 1. 

t Josephus informs us, that the Jews under Simon, "all set them- 
selves to work and levelled this mountain ; and in that work spent 
both day and night, without any intermission, which cost them three 
whole years before it was removed and brought to an entire level 
with the plain of the rest of the city ; after which the temple was 
the highest of all the buildings. Now the citadel, as well as the 
mountain on which it stood, was demolished." Antiq. lib. xiiL 
cap. vi. § 7. 

By the words, " to an entire level with the plain of the rest of the 
city," he cannot mean to a level with the plain of Zion ; for in ano- 
ther place (de Bel. lib. v. cap. iv. § 1.) he says that the upper 
city, or Zion, was much higher than this ; we must understand him 
to say, that the peak was reduced to the general level of the rest of 
Acra, 



THE TYROPCEON. 



185 



to a peak of sufficient height to overlook the temple. 
On this Antiochus Epiphanes (B. C. 168.) erected a 
citadel, strengthened with high walls and towers, 
which proved such a serious annoyance to the citi- 
zens, that, under the rule of Simon Maccabeus, (B. 0. 
143.) not only was the citadel demolished, but, to 
prevent its being rebuilt, the hill or peak itself was 
cut down to the level of the adjoining ground. In 
this way the whole of Acra got to be comparatively 
low ground,* and, to facilitate intercourse between 
the Temple and the " Upper City," or Mount Zion, 
a bridget was carried from a gate near the S. W. 
corner of the Temple quite across to the neighbor- 
hood of the palace of David. 

Of the valley of the Cheesemongers after it enters 
the modern city, there are at present no traces, it 
having doubtless been filled up at the time when 
Jerusalem was levelled with the ground by order of 
Titus ; but as Mount Zion was much higher than 
Acra, we may expect to find some remains of the 
steep ascent by which they passed from this valley up to 
Zion, or, as it was called by them, " The Upper City." 
And of this there are considerable remains. Mr. Nicho- 
layson's house stands about three hundred feet a little 
east of south from the Jaffa gate, which is designated 
on this map by the figure 1, at the place where the 
roads from Bethlehem and Jaffa meet. Sixty feet 
eastward from his house is a slope about twenty- 

* Jos. de Bel. lib. v. cap. iv. § 1. 

t Ibid. lib. vi. cap. vi. § 2, and cap. viii. § 2, 

16* 



186 



five feet high, and so steep as to make it difficult even 
for donkeys to ascend. Standing on its edge, we are 
still able to overlook a large part of the city to the 
east of it. This slope continues thence to the south- 
eastward, keeping parallel to some extensive ruins 
now to be seen there, the remains of a hospital be- 
longing to the time of the Crusades ; the slope being 
separated from them by a narrow bazaar. This 
slope is undoubtedly the north-eastern edge of 
Mount Zion, and I have so expressed it in the map 
which we are endeavoring to form. I have not been 
able to trace it further than to the end of this bazaar ; 
but as it passes in the direction of Siloam, or the 
opening of the valley of Cheesemongers, I have 
marked it in the map as continuing down to that 
place, as I have no doubt that it does. This gives 
us the northern boundary of Mount Zion exactly 
as described by Josephus, who says that " this city 
laid over against the temple in the manner of a thea- 
tre."* At the place where this slope approaches the 
nearest to the valley of Hinnom, or near Mr. Nicho- 
layson's, I have placed the tower of Hippicus, which 
stood at the northern angle of the city of Zion.t 

The " old wall," as it is called by Josephus, first 
erected by David and Solomon, and strengthened by 
succeeding kings, commences at the tower of Hippi- 

* " For the city lay over against the Temple in the manner of a the- 
atre, and was encompassed with a deep valley along the entire south 
quarter." Antiq. lib. xv. cap. xi. § 5. 

t Jos. de Bel. lib. v. cap. iv. § 2. 



•ANCIENT WALLS OF ZION. 187 

cus, and had its course on the west and south, 
directly along the edge of the valley of Hinnom. On 
reaching the valley of Kedron, it bent to the north- 
ward, and curving again to the east just below the 
pool of Siloam, joined the temple wall nearly at its 
south-eastern angle. On the northern side, starting 
again at the tower of Hippicus, it kept along the 
edge of the bank above the valley of Cheesemongers, 
until curving opposite the Xistus, it here crossed 
the valley, and passing by the Xistus and the council- 
house, joined soon after the western wall of the 
temple, probably at the south-western angle.* 

He does not tell us what is meant by "the 
Xistus," but it is probably from the Greek word 
#<^T05, "a division" or "separation;" and I sup- 
pose refers to the branching of the valley of the 
Cheesemongers, one part keeping along by Mount Zion, 
and the other just on the west of Mount Moriah ; 
the latter branch, as I have already said, was filled 
up by the Maccabees. Just south of the temple, on 
the ground sloping down to the pool of Siloam, was 
a small section of the city called Ophlas.t 

It is probable that a wall separated also Mount 
Zion from Ophlas ; for we find, that when Titus had 
possession of Acra and the Temple, he had still to 
bring his engines against the northern wall of Zion ;t 

* Jos. de Bel. lib. v. cap. iv. § 2. 
t Ibid. Also cap. vi. § 1. 
i Ibid. lib. vi. cap. viii. § 1. 



188 



SYRIA. 



which would not have been necessary if he could 
have passed at once through Ophlas into that city. 

Mount Zion was called by David " The Citadel f 
it afterwards frequently went by the name of " The 
Upper City," in contradistinction to Acra, the latter 
being frequently styled " The Lower City.' 7 * 

Acra, we are informed by Josephus, was u in the 
shape of a moon when she is horned ;"t and though 
he gives no intimation to that effect, I' suppose th*a 
horns must have been to the northward, for I do not 
see how it is possible that they could have been 
otherwise. On the west they certainly could not 
have been, nor on the south, nor on the east ; and 
there remains only the position Avhich I have given 
them. The northern wall of Acra, sometimes called 
" the second wall," commenced at the gate Gennath, 
(i. e. " gate of the gardens,") and then making a 
curve, % terminated at the castle of Antonxa.§ I 
have placed the gate Gennath about five hundred 
feet from the tower Hippicus, and have carried the 
wall, in the first place at right angles across the 
valley of the Cheesemongers, and then placing a 
tower at the angle, have there commenced the course 
over towards Antonia. My reasons for this arrange- 

* Jos, de Bel. lib. v. cap. iv. § 1. et passim, t Ibid. 

t YLvkKovuzvov is the word used by Josephus ; Whiston has trans- 
lated it "encompassed ;" L'Estrange, I think, translates it "passes 
along;" it means simply making a curve, either inward or outward, 
and so I have used it. 

§ Jos. de Bel. lib. v. cap. iv. § 2. 



BOUNDARIES OF ACRA. 



189 



ment are as follows. When Titus had set down 
with his army before Jerusalem, and came to select 
a spot for his assaults, he determined to commence 
at the tomb of John the High Priest, because the 
outer wall (marked here by the zigzag lines) was 
weakest at that place ; and here, too, he could pass 
at once to the "old" or " third wall," without the 
necessity of first teJring the second ;* which expec- 
tation " of an easy passage to the third wall" would 
not have been reasonable, had the gate Gennath and 
the branching of the northern wall of Acra been 
nearer to the tower of Hippicus than I have placed 
them. And when the Romans had taken this outer 
wall, and the Jews were driven to their next line of 
defences, they immediately commenced a line of 
fortification, which seems to have been from the 
second wall to the tower of Hippicus ; for which 
reason, as well as because it is a more rational way 
of carrying a wall across a valley, I have made this 
angle in the outer wall of Acra. 

These walls, namely, those of Mount Zion and 
Acra, are all that were standing in the time of our 
Saviour. The outer wall, marked here by the zig- 
zag lines, was erected by Agrippa, not till eight 
years or more after the crucifixion ; a circumstance 
that seems to have escaped the attention of those who 
maintain that the spot now marked as Calvary was 
then within the city. At the time of our Saviour, a 



* Jos. de Bel. lib. v. cap. vi. § 2. 



190 



SYRIA. 



very large suburb extended northward from the 
temple and the tower of Antonia, occupying a hill 
called Bezetha, but it was not yet walled in. Speak- 
ing of this outer wall, Josephus says, " It was Agrip- 
pa (Agrippa ruled over Judea from A. D. 41 to 43.) 
who encompassed the parts added to the old city 
with this wall, which had been all naked before ; for 
as the city grew more populous, it gradually crept 
beyond its old limits ; and those parts of it that stood 
northward of the temple, and joined that hill to the 
city, made it considerably larger, and occasioned that 
hill, which is in number the fourth, and is called 
Bezetha, to be inhabited. It lies over against the 
tower Antonia, but is divided from it, by a deep val- 
ley, which was dug on purpose. * * This new built 
part of the city was called Bezetha^ in our language, 
which, if interpreted in the Grecian language, may 
be called The New City. Since, therefore, its in- 
habitants stood in need of a covering, the father of 
the present king, and of the same name with him, 
Agrippa, began that wall we spoke of; but he left 
off building it when he had only laid the founda- 
tions, out of the fear he was in of Claudius Caesar, 
lest he should suspect that so strong a wall was 
built in order to make some innovation in public 
affairs ; for the city could no way have been taken if 
that wall had been finished in the manner it had 
been begun ; as its parts were connected together by 
stones twenty cubits (thirty-six feet) long and ten 
cubits broad, which could never have been either 



WALL OF AGRIPPA. 



191 



easily undermined by any iron tools, or shaken by 
any engines. The wall was, however, ten cubits 
wide, and it would probably have had a height greater 
than that, had not his zeal who began it been hin- 
dered from exerting itself. After this it was erected 
with great diligence by the Jews as high as twenty 
cubits, above which it had battlements of two cubits, 
and turrets of three cubits altitude ; insomuch that 
the entire altitude extended as far as twenty-five 
cubits."* De Bel. lib. v. cap. 4. § 2. 

The slope which I have noticed as near Mr. 
Nicholayson's house, and as showing, southward 
fromthat,the outline of Mount Zion,does not however 
terminate at the site of the tower Hippicus. It there 
bends to the eastward, and again, near the present Latin 
convent, turns to the northward, but is at that place 
reduced to an elevation of only five or six feet. For 
a reason to be seen in Josephus, de Bel. lib. v. c. 7. § 3, 
as well as on account of the ground, I have made 
Agrippa's wall, which started from the tower Hip- 

* In Antiq. lib. xix. cap. vii. § 2. is a short passage that seems to 
be opposed to this. It is probable that his predecessors contemplated 
such a wall, and made a commencement in one or two places ; both 
Pompey (B.C. 63) and Herod (B.C. 37), when they came to attack 
Jerusalem, found this place quite naked, and made their assaults at 
once on the temple and the second wall at Acra. Tacitus, Hist, 
lib. v. cap. xii. has a passage bearing on this subject. " Moreover 
the covetous temper that prevailed under Claudius gave the Jews an 
opportunity of purchasing for money, leave to fortify Jerusalem ; so 
they built walls in time of peace as if they were going to war, they 
being augmented in number by those rude multitudes of people that 
retired thither on the ruin of the other cities." Claudius reigned 
from A. D. 41 to 54. 



192 



SYRIA. 



picus,* keep along the upper edge of this slope, and 
have placed the tomb of John at the angle ; the reasons 
for which may be found also in the above reference. 
Thence the course of this wall is uncertain ; we only 
know that it proceeded far to the northward, and en- 
closed the suburb of Bezetha ; but, though the course 
which I have drawn corresponds, as far as I can 
judge, with the data given us in Josephus, those data 
are too few to furnish us with any thing positive. I 
think, however, the outline cannot be far from the 
truth. 

But, as I have just remarked, this wall was not 
existing at the time of our Saviour's crucifixion. If 
I am correct in the conclusions which have just 
been laid before the reader, the castellated walls on 
the map, together with the temple, were the only 
portions then enclosed. This would make a small 
city ; but the extensive suburbs around would make 
up for the deficiency of room. Vienna is an exam- 
ple in our own times, similar to this, where "the 
city" or fortified portion is of very limited extent 
compared with the vast stretch of suburb attached to 
it ; these castellated parts of this map have, indeed, 
just about the extent of the Burg, or city proper 
of Vienna. 

The suburb of Bezetha at that time, though 
stretching a considerable distance to the north, seems 
not to have extended much to the west of Antonia, 

* Jos. de Bel. lib. v. cap. iv. § 2. 



PLACE OP Tfi£ CRUCIFIXION. 193 

for, in addition to the intimation to that effect in 
Jos. de Bel. lib. v. cap. 4. § 2, we are informed 
that the wall of Agrippa, wheil erected afterwards, 
was left weaker at its south-western extremity than 
in the other portions, "the builders neglecting to 
build the wall strong where the new city was not 
inhabited."* The dense portions of this appendage 
to Jerusalem were on the higher ground lying di- 
rectly northward from the temple, the ground over 
towards the spot which I have marked as Calvary 
having a few scattered dwellings, and those of the 
meanest order. The ground west of this suburb was 
probably taken up with great roads, and such 
thoroughfares as are usually to be seen in the neigh- 
borhood of a populous city. 

And now, if we had no tradition whatever as re- 
gards the spot of our Saviour's suffering, and were left 
simply to the guidance of our own judgment, I think 
I should look for it somewhere in this angle between 
Hippicus and Bezetha. Public places are usually 
selected for such occurrences, and in this instance 
the enemies of the sufferer would be apt to seek for 
every circumstance that would add to his humilia- 
tion. We are told by the Scriptures (John xix. 20.) 
that the place was near the city ; and as it is not pro-- 
bable that they would select a spot on the other side 
of the valley of Hinnom or of Kedron, and the hill 
Bezetha was covered with houses, we have lef 
only this angle immediately north of Acra ; and in 

* Jos. de Bel. lib. v. cap. 6, § 2. 

17 



194 



SYRIA, 



Matthew xxvii. 39, we are informed that " they that 
passed by reviled him/' which seems to intimate that 
the cross was adjoining some public roads or 
thoroughfares. 

Our search then is restricted to a narrow compass ; 
and now, if upon this ground we should find a rocky 
knoll about twenty feet or more in height, it would 
appear to us that this would be, in all probability, 
the spot selected for such an occasion. It would 
elevate the sufferers to a height sufficient to expose 
them to the eyes of all the multitude, and would in 
all respects be adapted to a spectacle like this. Just 
such a rock is existing at this day, and is the one 
built into the present church of the Crucifixion. 
The place is in Scripture no where called Mount 
Calvary ; but simply Calvary, or " Golgotha, that is, 
a place of a skull," and we have no reason given us 
there to look for a larger eminence. Indeed this 
seems just such an one as would be selected for such 
a purpose, and corresponds, both in elevation and ex- 
tent, to its ignominious title. 

In these remarks it will be observed, I have been 
guided entirely by the judgment, and have endea- 
vored to see whither it would lead us, without any 
reference to traditions on this subject. As we have 
seen, it conducts us exactly to the spot that tradition 
has always pointed out as the place of the cruci- 
fixion. This tradition I will now proceed also to 
notice. 

It is not probable that the early Christians would 



EARLY TRADITIONS. 195 

soo n forget a spot of such tender and deep interest to 
them ; for, as I observed at the beginning of this 
chapter, the subject is also one of some practical 
character. It was rather to be feared that they would 
attach to it a reverence that would degenerate into 
superstition, than that they would entirely forget it. 
If at our day the idea of the bare possibility of visit- 
ing Mount Calvary sends a thrill through the whole 
system, with what feelings must they have regarded 
the place when the memory of this event was fresh 
among the Christians, and when they were able to 
converse with those who had themselves witnessed 
the ignominious death of their Lord and Saviour. 
It does not appear to me at all probable that such a 
place would be forgotten ; and we have a proof of 
the respect in which it was held, in the fact that 
Hadrian erected on the sepulchre a statue to Jupiter, 
and one to Venus on Mount Calvary. This could 
have been done only to mock their feelings and dis- 
tress them, by desecrating places held by them in 
high regard. The fact that he placed these statues 
on these spots, at all events shows that they were at 
this time (about one hundred years after the events 
themselves) considered as the places of the cruci- 
fixion and the sepulture of Christ. Helena, the 
mother of Constantine, two hundred years subse- 
quently to this, erected on the spot a Christian 
church, which, with some changes not affecting the 
locality, has continued ever since. There is, there- 
fore, a chain of evidence with regard to these locali" 



196 



SYRIA, 



ties of a very satisfactory kind ; and as the judgment 
finds no difficulty in the case, but, independently of 
tradition, is led to the same conclusion, my own con- 
victions are clearly and decidedly in their favor. 

Let us then examine into the circumstances of this 
affecting event. The place of the crucifixion was 
about six hundred feet from the city wall, to which 
the ground from this place had a gentle descent ; on 
the east were the low and straggling outskirts of the 
large suburb of Bezetha ; on the west, the ground, at 
the distance of a few hundred feet, sloped upward 
rapidly for a short space, and then stretched off in a 
long ascending plain ; on the northward it also as- 
cends gently for the distance of more than a mile. 
The rock of Golgotha or Calvary is now about six- 
teen feet in height ; though as the ground around it has 
been elevated by the ruins of the old city, it was 
probably at that time a few feet higher. It was of 
sufficient altitude to bring the sufferer into distinct 
view before all the crowds that probably at this time 
covered the walls and houses and the upward slopes 
of the hills, and to make him visible to those " afar 
off."* A few gardens were near ; but most of the 
space around this rocky knoll was open, and traversed 
by the dusty thoroughfares to the populous city. 

It was now the Passover, and more than two mil- 
lions of people had come up to Jerusalem ;t the city, 
the suburbs, were crowded, the country around was 

* See Luke xxiii. 49. 

t Jos. de Bel. lib. vi. cap. 9. § 3. 



SCENES, ATTENDING THE CRUCIFIXION. 197 

covered with the dense multitude ; and the ceaseless 

hum of men, even in their calmer moments, was like 

the deep hollow roar of the ocean. — And now the 

multitudes are agitated, and the stormy passions 

are at work amid the countless throng. — He who 

had excited the wonder of the Jewish nation, and the 

rage of the priests and of the stately Pharisees, had 

been brought forward before the judgment-seat of the 

high-priest and the governor of Judea, and had been 

condemned for blasphemy. — He, for blasphemy ! The 

good, the benevolent, the Godlike ! who had given 

sight to the blind, and had caused the lame to walk, 

and had healed the sick, and had brought the dead 

to life ; who had led their thoughts to heaven, and 

taught them pure and holy doctrines ; and had been 

among them in his miracles with the power of the 

Divinity himself. He, for blasphemy ? Yes, he had 

publicly, before their council, declared himself to be 

the Christ, the Son of God, and that they should see 

him sitting on the right hand of 'power, and coming 

from heaven in majesty ; and he had foretold that of 

their glorious temple, the object almost of their idol- 

atry, not one stone should be left upon another ; and 

had been accused of saying that he himself would 

destroy it. The passions of the dense multitudes rise ; 

and rumor, with her exaggerations, excites them to 

phrensy. — And now comes forth the sufferer, bearing 

his cross ; his back lacerated with thongs, his brow 

dropping blood from the crown placed on it in 

mockery. Though sinking under fatigue and pain ? 

17 * 



198 



SYRIA. 



he meets no commiseration, but is driven on with 
tauntings and scorn ; and they come to the place of 
public execution, and the victim is nailed to the 
cross, and between two malefactors is raised up to 
be a spectacle to man ; and wherever he turns his 
agonized eyes he sees only rage and scorn ; and his 
ears hear only bitter tauntings ; — " he saved others ; 
himself he cannot save." " If he be the king of Israel 
let him come down now from the cross, and we will 
believe him." "He trusted in God ; let him deliver 
him now if he will have him ; for he said, I am the 
Son of God." 

There is a punishment somewhat similar to this 
of crucifixion, that until lately was practised in Al- 
giers and in various parts of Turkey. The criminal 
w r as thrown from the top of a wall and caught by 
large hooks projecting from its side, and there left 
to perish. His torments were frightful. A fever 
seized on the body, and excruciating pains coursed 
through the whole system ; the eyes .became blood- 
shot and glaring, and starting from their sockets; the 
sufferer was burnt up by a scorching thirst, and 
begged piteously for drink, and after many hours 
died in frightful agonies. 

Death upon the cross was probably similar to this, 
for the nails were driven through the hands and feet, 
where are congregated an unusual number of deli- 
cate nerves ; and by them the whole weight of the 
body was suspended. The agonies were probably 
even greater than those I have been describing. 



PLACE OF THE SEPULTURE. 



199 



Such was the price of our redemption. "He hath 
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows ; he was 
bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement of our 
peace was upon him ; and with his stripes we are 
Jiealed." 

The question with regard to the place of our Sa- 
viour's burial is in a measure dependent on that into 
which we have just been examining, and will there- 
fore not require more than a few minutes' attention. 
St. John (xix. 41, 42.) tells us that " in the place 
where he was crucified, there was a garden ; and in 
the garden a new sepulchre, wherein never man was 
yet laid. There laid they Jesus, therefore, because 
of the Jews' preparation day, for the sepulchre was 
nigh at hand? We are therefore to look for this 
spot close in the neighborhood of Calvary ; and I 
think that the merriment in which Protestant visitors 
sometimes have indulged on finding the spot pointed 
out for the sepulchre, so near that of the crucifixion, 
to be quite out of place. It certainly is in bad taste ; 
for whatever these places may be, they bear sad 
and solemn names, and have been regarded by 
Christians from time immemorial as really the places 
of our Saviour's bloody death and burial, and glori- 
ous resurrection. However, then, Ave maybe dis- 
posed to regard their genuineness, we should ap- 
proach them with solemn feelings ; and levity or 
sarcasm in such a place becomes us very ill. 

For myself, I believe that as regards the place of 
our Saviour's crucifixion, there is no just ground for 



200 



SYRIA. 



disbelief, nor can I see much as regards also that 
pointed out as the place for burial. It is about 110 
feet from the rocky knoll, and is not at all too near 
to have a garden wall intervene, and make this a 
proper place for Joseph of Arimathea to hew out a 
sepulchre. Ge?inath, the name of the gate opening 
from the Upper City to this place, means gardens,* 
and it is probable that much of this space was origi- 
nally occupied with gardens. We find also that it 
was a place of tombs ; for the monument of the high- 
priest John was near this, as were also probably 
" the monuments of king Alexander. "t The circum- 
stances of the case are, therefore, in favor of this 
spot ; the Scriptures in some measure give it their 
sanction, and tradition from the earliest years has 
been uniform on the subject. Hadrian over it erected 
the statue of Jupiter, and here also Helena built a 
church ; and among the rival sects of the Greek 
and Latin church, which soon after sprung up, and 
which have been endeavoring to appropriate, each 
to itself, as much as possible of the holy places, no 
one has ever attempted to designate another spot. 

I confess I take pleasure in believing that the spot 
pointed out to us as that of our Saviour's sepulture, 
is the true one ; and that, to the scene of his deep hu- 
miliation and his agony for us is in close proximity 
the scene of his triumph over hell and the grave ; 
and though it can be no argument, I confess there 



* rw Esther i. 5, &c. 



t Jos. de Bel. lib. 5. cap. 7. § 3. 



THE TOMB AND CALVARY. 201 

seems to me to be a fitness of things where we are 
allowed to stand where stood the cross of Christ, and 
look down on the empty tomb, and say through 
him, " O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where 
is thy victory ? The sting of death is sin ; and the 
strength of sin is the law ; but thanks be to God 
which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus 
Christ." 



202 



CHAPTER XV. 

Commencement of our visits. Hospital of the knights of St. John. 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre^ Reputed tomb of the Saviour. 
Marble sarcophagus. Effect of this visit on us. Gluestion whe- 
ther this is the real tomb, or only a representation of it. Re- 
moval of the floor two centuries since. Greek chapel " the centre 
of the world." Origin of the various incredible traditions. 
Charity to be exercised. Cave where the cross is said to have 
been discovered. Fissure in the rock. Tradition about the head 
of Adam. Calvary. Holes for the crosses. Another fissure in 
the rock. The humiliation in the tomb, and resurrection. 

We were glad, on arriving at Mr. Nicholay- 
son's, to find the ladies of the Commodore's family 
quite recovered from the effects of the preceding 
day's severe fatigue. Mrs. Nicholayson herself 
was in a feeble state of health, occasioned by her 
watchings over Mrs. Thompson's couch, and expo- 
sures during the earthquake, and the subsequent 
fighting in the city ; their house, as has already been 
observed, having been used as an advanced point ot 
attack on the citadel. The presence of ladies speak- 
ing her own language had immediately an astonish- 
ing effect on her spirits, and she became rapidly 
convalescent. 

Impatient, and with feelings almost in a nervous 
state, we soon found ourselves out, and winding along 
the narrow lane that leads from Mr. Nicholayson's 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 203 

to the slope by which we descend from Mount Zion 
to the lower city. Standing on the edge of this, we 
looked down on the ruins of a great edifice erected 
for the knights of St. John at the time of the 
Crusades. It is a very large building, I should 
think near six hundred feet in length by two hun- 
dred in width ; but the lower story or basement is 
all that now remains. This forms a suite of vaults, 
which are now occupied as stores for grain and 
merchandize ; a street of shops forming a kind of 
bazaar passes along the western side of it, and on 
the south is the principal bazaar of the city, the exte- 
rior range of vaults answering very well for stores. 
The place where we were then standing was about 
the spot where I suppose the gate Gennath to have 
been. 

Descending from this eminence, we entered a 
street which passes along the northern side of this 
ruin, and is lined with fruit shops and houses, some- 
times one, sometimes two stories in height, of stone, 
the windows small and the exterior very plain. 
This street is about one thousand feet in length. At 
its further extremity on our right was an edifice dis- 
tinguished by its size and massiveness, but present- 
ing on the exterior only a bare wall pierced with a 
few narrow windows. This was " The Church of 
the Holy Sepulchre." It forms altogether a block 
of masonry about one hundred and sixty feet by one 
hundred in width, in which are included the chapel 
of the Crucifixion, the church of the Sepulchre, some 



204 



SYRIA. 



small chapels, and a monastery, the cloisters of the 
monks occupying the portions of the building next 
the street. Just before coming to this building, we 
entered a low door in a stone wall, and then, having 
descended along a narrow alley, we turned pre- 
sently to the left, and had before us the court and 
grand entrance to the church. On our left was the 
church tower, but without bells, as, with the single 
exception of Mount Lebanon, bells are not allowed 
to Christian churches in Turkey. The height of this 
tower has also been reduced, from a similar feeling 
of jealousy on the part of their Turkish masters. 
Three sides of the court were formed by a mass of 
buildings of irregular shape, while the fourth, or 
that looking towards the west, was open ; in the 
central part was an arched portal ornamented with 
columns of verd-antique, and sculptures of the 
Norman style of architecture ; it was open at the 
time of our visit, and I believe is so daily for an hour 
or two in the morning. After this it is closed, the 
key is returned to the Turkish governor; and admit- 
tance during the rest of the day, if desired, must be 
purchased from him. The monks, therefore, are 
prisoners in their monastery, except during this 
short interval, and intercourse with them must be 
held through a square hole in this door, where also 
provisions and other necessaries are taken in. We 
visited the place once in the afternoon, and were 
allowed to enter after waiting nearly an hour, and 
&t the cost of a dollar or two, 



STONE OF UNCTION. 



205 



Passing through this door, the visiter finds him- 
self in a hall or vestibule, about forty feet long by- 
twenty in width ; and in front of him, on the floor, 
a slab of reddish marble, with huge candlesticks and 
candles at either end ; they call it the stone of 
unction, and say that on it our Saviour's body was 
anointed previous to interment. And here com- 
mences a series of legends and fictions, dealt out 
unsparingly to the visitor, which often produce dis- 
gust, and always jar on the feelings of the pilgrim 
whose mind is not steeped in the grossest cre- 
dulity. I could fill a book with them, but have no 
relish for such a task ; and during this visit gave 
but little attention to them, as I wished to keep my 
feelings free from the effect of such puerilities ; and 
I shall at present trouble the reader with them 
only so far as to give him an idea of this blot on 
Christianity at Jerusalem. By doing more, we 
should only stir up emotions that cannot harmo- 
nize with the place, and which will prevent us from 
feeling the influence of that which is real and true. 

Turning now to the left we came, at the distance 
of about twenty feet, to a large door-way which 
admitted us into a circular church, quite lofty, and 
about fifty feet in diameter.* 

The lower part of this is lined with a range of 
pilasters, between which are arched openings into a 

* All these dimensions, I wish the reader to understand, are not 
by actual measurement, but as nearly as I could judge by the eye ; 
I think they are sufficiently accurate to serve as a guide in the pre- 
sent case, but I do not affirm them to be strictly accurate, 

18 



206 



SYRIA. 



dozen chapels, some used by the Copts, Greeks, and 
Armenians, and some occupied by altars connected 
with the legends which have just been noticed. 
Above these runs a corridor, and the whole is sur- 
mounted by the large dome which had drawn my 
attention when on the top of our monastery. In the 
centre of the area of this church is a structure of 
masonry, about eight feet wide, eight or nine in 
height, and about twelve in length ; at one end is a 
marble platform, raised about twelve inches from the 
floor, with steps quite around, and bordered part of 
the length with a low marble wall or parapet on 
either side ; the other end of this structure, instead 
of being square, has three faces, in which are very 
small chapels for the Copts, Abyssinians, &c. The 
structure itself is faced with the richest marbles, in 
compartments, and enriched with mouldings, and 
has on the summit a little tower like a lantern, used, 
I believe, as a vent for the smoke from some lamps 
within the tomb. Yes, this, they tell us, is the 
tomb of our Saviour, hewn originally in the solid 
rock; but that the exterior rock has been cut 
down so as to form a kind of shell, in the shape 
of a chapel, with its exterior surface enriched 
in this manner with marble. If this be so, they have 
sadly disguised the place, for, being lined with mar- 
ble also in the interior, it has now not the least 
resemblance to what the Scripture account of it 
would lead us to expect. The entrance is at the 
end towards the east. We ascended the marble 
platform, and entering by a low door found our- 



THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 



207 



selves in a chamber about six feet wide and five in 
depth, in the centre of which is an upright column 
irregularly shaped, about two feet in height. They 
say it is the stone on which the angel sat when he 
announced the resurrection to Mary Magdalene, and 
Mary the mother of James, and Salome. At the 
further end of this room, at the corner on the left, 
is a low door ; and there, stooping down, we 
entered another chamber about six feet square. 
One half of this latter apartment was occupied by 
a marble sarcophagus ; and in this, they say, was 
deposited the body of our crucified Saviour. 

For a while we were unwilling, and I believe 
should have been unable, to enter into the inquiry 
whether this was really so ; — so strong an emotion 
was created by the annunciation that we were in 
our Lord's sepulchre, and that before us was the 
coffin where his body had lain, and from which he 
rose triumphant, leading captivity captive. We stood 
for a long time silent, gazing on the marble ; and I 
believe it would have taken little to have caused us 
to shed tears. The place was lighted only by lamps 
suspended from the ceiling over the coffin ; no 
sounds were heard, except occasionally of our deep 
breathing, as our emotions became almost too strong 
to be restrained. And our feelings, I believe, were of 
a salutary nature. 

There was then in our company, one of whom I 
am allowed here to speak, but whom the shrinking 
modesty which she always evinced while living, and 



208 



SYRIA. 



which should still be regarded, will allow me barely 
to notice. She was dear to us all ; and although, 
with such solemn scenes as these around us, it be - 
comes me to speak with humility of worldly accom- 
plishments, I may say she possessed them in an 
unusual degree, and that she was admired and be- 
loved at home and abroad by every one that knew 
her. She is now no longer in this world. In the 
grave, earthly accomplishments, and even earthly 
love, avail us nothing ; but religion does avail ; and 
the religion of the cross of Christ, so full of hope and 
glory, she was led to adopt by this visit to Calvary 
and to the sepulchre of Christ. She had been educated 
by pious friends, and had respected and esteemed the 
ordinances of the gospel ; but this visit, and the 
scenes here brought before her mind, made her 
realize as she had not done before, how great was 
the price paid for her salvation, and how strong are 
our obligations to give ourselves unhesitatingly to 
Him who hesitated not to give himself for us. Select- 
ing a proper time, when the act would be free from 
ostentation, she took out her Bible, which she had 
brought to the city, and placing it on the coffin, wrote, 
as was long after discovered, her name and the date 
of our visit, with the quotation, " Let every thing 
that hath breath praise the Lord." Not long after 
her return to the ship she made a meek yet decided 
avowal of this Saviour as her only hope and trust; 
and all who knew her witnessed a corresponding 
exhibition of Christian character. For the change 



EFFECT ON THE FEELINGS. 209 

which brought the humble and gentle virtues into 
striking relief, while hope rose higher and became 
full of immortality, she always referred to this visit 
as the immediate cause. She was, at that time, ap- 
parently in excellent health ; but youth and health 
are no guarantee for us in this our earthly home. 
When our ship, eighteen months afterwards, ap- 
proached our own shore, it bore her a feeble and 
exhausted invalid ; and when land at length rose to 
our sight, we scarcely heeded it ; for she, our com- 
panion so long, and so beloved by us, was now a 
corpse. She had expired suddenly only the evening 
previous. By her mourning parents in that hour of 
anguish, I heard this visit spoken of, and they found 
in its consequences a source of consolation, such as 
the whole earth could not have afforded them ; to 
her, had she possessed worlds, what would they have 
been in comparison with her religion ? 

When we spoke, at length, as we stood by the 
coffin in this sepulchre, it was involuntarily in low 
tones, and in brief sentences ; and it was a relief to 
get out where the feelings were less oppressive. I 
speak of the sensations of others as well as of my 
own ; for I have since frequently heard them speak 
of this visit and of its effects on their feelings. 

Our feelings however, in this case, led captive by 
the scene around us, by the silent chamber lighted by 
a few lamps, the marble coffin, and the tradition that 
this was our Lord's sepulchre, acted without the con- 
currence of our judgment ; or rather, they suspended 

18* 



210 



SYRIA. 



for a while the power of judging or the disposition 
to inquire. Yet, although for reasons already given, 
I have little doubt that this was the spot of our Sa- 
viour's interment, the assertion that this is the sepul- 
chre itself, wants confirmation ; and the marble coffin 
or sarcophagus, I cannot regard as any thing more 
than a mere representation of the grave, or the place 
where the body was deposited ; and for this it is by 
no means happily chosen. This may be the 
sepulchre, cut on the outside into the form of a little 
chapel ; but as nothing but marble is seen both within 
and on the outside, the native rock, if it exists, being 
no where allowed to appear, we have no means of 
satisfying ourselves that it is so ; and the circum- 
stances are altogether suspicious, particularly when 
taken in connexion with the many other assertions 
with regard to sacred places in Jerusalem which are 
manifestly beyond belief. The coffin is of white 
marble, slightly marked by a few veins of a light blue 
color ; it is rectangular, six feet long within, about 
three feet broad, and two feet two inches in depth ; 
being in all respects exactly like the ancient sarco- 
phagi found all over Greece and in Asia ; the cover 
remains,- and the whole exterior has a slight degree 
of roughness, as if it might once have been exposed 
to the weather. This is entirely at variance with 
the ancient tombs still to be seen in great numbers 
about Jerusalem, and particularly in the district 
lying north from the present city. They are com- 
posed sometimes of a single chamber, sometimes of 



A TOMB BENEATH THIS. 



211 



a succession of chambers, cut in the solid rock, with 
a rectangular cavity large enough for a body, in 
the floor, at the side of the chamber ; in the larger 
chambers, there are more than one cavity, and in a 
few cases, instead of being cut in the floor, they 
form a box against the side, but cut also out of the 
solid rock. In no case that I have heard of, has a 
marble sarcophagus been found within them, none 
would be needed ; and even in the tombs of the kings 
of some magnificence, northward from the city, the 
native rock has been exclusively employed. The 
evidence is altogether against this marble sarco- 
phagus, and I cannot yield it my belief. 

But still, whether it was that I had some lingering 
doubts on the subject, or whether it was the name it 
bore, and the silent and lamp-lit chamber in which it 
is presented, I cannot say : but though I visited this 
chamber repeatedly, it was always with a feeling of 
awe mingled with a degree of reverence. 

There was in the city, at the time of our visit, an 
English gentleman, who had become a Roman 
Catholic, and was now a priest, but was a man of 
enlightened and liberal views ; he had been residing 
some time at Lisbon, and had now been sent to Jeru- 
salem with the contribution of the Portuguese 
churches for this year. He visited us frequently at 
Mr. Nicholayson's ; and we were all struck both with 
his intelligence and very gentlemanly manners. He 
informed me that a short time previous to this, when 
occupied one day in examining the library of the 



212 



SYRIA. 



principal Latin convent, he lighted on an old musty 
book, written in Latin by the father guardian of Je- 
rusalem about three centuries since. The author 
said, that during his residence here it was found ne- 
cessary to take up the pavement of this church in 
order to make some repairs ; that he watched the pro- 
cess with deep attention, and that his satisfaction can 
scarcely be imagined, when, on coming to the native 
rock, he found, immediately under this spot, a cham- 
ber cut in the rock, and corresponding exactly to 
the tombs we find about the city. That on further 
research among the old records of the convent, he 
(the father guardian) found it stated, that in ancient 
times the sepulchre had stood open and exposed ; and 
was beginning to be greatly mutilated by pilgrims, 
each one being desirous of carrying away some por- 
tion of the sacred rock. In order to preserve it, a 
strong railing was built around ; but that now, the 
visitors being debarred from touching the sepulchre, 
votive offerings, rags,* &c. were thrown in by them 
in such quantities that the place soon become offen- 
sive; and that finally, to prevent this new evil, the 
tomb was filled up, and a small chapel was erected 
over it, with a sarcophagus, as a representative of the 
real sepulchre beneath. 

* Such a custom still prevails in the east. In Turkish burying 
grounds, we frequently see bits of rags suspended about the tombs 
of the dead whom they regard with reverence. The monumental 
enclosures in Pere la Chaise, near Paris, are often rendered offensive 
by the heaps of decaying garlands within them, the offerings of 
friends. 



GREEK CHURCH CENTRE OF THE WORLD. 213 

The account of the father guardian has the ap- 
pearance of probability, but the reader is left to take 
it for what he may consider it worth. I tried to get 
sight of the book ; but as the convent was in quaran- 
tine on account of the plague, could not succeed ; 
and I regret to say that I have forgotten its title. 

The light which we can gain from the Scriptures 
on this subject, joined with the uniform tradition, 
lead me to suppose that this is the spot ; whatever 
may be the fact with regard to the sepulchre itself, 
whether it be now beneath the structure going by its 
name, or whether it has been cut away to make room 
for a heathen temple erected by Hadrian, or for the 
present church. 

The little chapel of the Sepulchre stands in the 
centre of the great church, facing the east. Directly 
in front of it is a large opening into a church owned 
by the Greeks, and no wise remarkable, except for a 
ball suspended from the ceiling, and a plate beneath 
it, on which is an inscription, telling that this is the 
centre of the world. 

The authority for this is in Ps. lxxiv. 12. " For 
God is my King of old, working salvation in the 
midst of the earth f and here I must warn the reader 
that his feelings will sometimes be shocked in the 
course of these visits, and I must be allowed to 
warn him also against allowing his disgust to operate 
so as to make him reject the truth with the error. 
This is not consistent with the principles of sound 
judgment, but the contrary. Where truth is, error 



214 



SYRIA. 



will generally come ; and error, as I have already- 
remarked, is to a certain degree a proof that there is 
truth somewhere ; for man could not hang up such a 
mass of fictions if there was not something real to 
hang it upon ; and generally, the more important the 
truth, the more earnest is error to draw advantage 
therefrom. 

I cannot, however, join in the frequent outcry of 
imposition, craft and falsehood against the sects who 
hold these places, and recite these traditions to the 
visitor. That such things as these are to be found 
in high and sacred seats, is doubtless true, and that 
they are sometimes practised here is also very pro- 
bable ; but I can find, for a great many of these tra- 
ditions, an origin of a more charitable nature, and I 
believe one more consonant with the real state of the 
case. We live now in an age of light and know- 
ledge, and find it hard even to imagine the darkness 
that once covered Europe and all these lands. We 
can form only some idea of it from the books of the 
middle ages — books full of fable and false philosophy 
on every subject. These fables on medicine, on 
alchemy, on astrology, and on a multitude of other 
topics, grew up, we are willing to believe, from men's 
ignorance ; in some cases there may have been deli- 
berate deception ; but in most, their origin was in the 
gross ignorance of the times ; they show the strivings 
of minds shorn of their strength by diseases heredi- 
tary and for ages universal ; men saw but dimly, and 
wandered into the ways of error when really and 



CHARITY TO BE INDULGED. 



215 



honestly in search of truth. And if we are willing 
to extend this charity to the other sciences, why not 
also to that of religion, where men's feelings are apt 
to be more warmly affected, and even in a good 
cause, to warp the judgment, particularly if it be 
weak, than in any other ? In this very city, the Ma- 
homedans have a great variety of traditions with 
respect to the mosque of Omar, and some other of 
their sacred places about Jerusalem, quite as wild 
as any thing among the Christian sects ; yet when 
we listen to them, we do not at once cry out " craft 
and roguery," and believe the narrator to be wilfully 
imposing on us. We are willing to suppose him 
honest. W e look at him ; his face is grave ; he has 
the appearance of sincerity ; and we attribute the 
error to the deep and dark ignorance in which these 
people are known to live. Now I wish to claim 
for the Christian traditions just what we are wil- 
ling to give to those of the Mahomedans. The 
principle of charity may, it is true, be carried too far, 
but I wish to see it carried further than it is. Let 
us go among these sacred places cautious, as cau- 
tious as you choose ; but not sneering, or cultivating 
bitter feelings towards one another ; let us pity the 
ignorance of our brother and commiserate him, but not 
load him with harsh epithets. Uncharitable insinua- 
tions are certainly very much out of place in this re- 
gion, which should excite only humble and tender feel- 
ings ; where, amid tauntings and contumely show- 



216 



SYRIA. 



ered upon him, the Saviour prayed, "Father, forgive 
them, for they know not what they do? 

After leaving the Greek chapel, we crossed to the 
western side of this circular church; and here entering 
a narrow winding passage, came presently to a floor 
of naked rock with two graves cut in it, called the 
Sepulchres of Joseph of Arimathea and of Nicode- 
mus. They are just deep enough to contain a 
body ; that of Nicodemus is only about four and a 
half feet in length. 

From this place we were taken to a chapel on the 
northern side of the church, where, they say, our 
Saviour appeared to the Virgin after his resurrec- 
tion ; and next, by a winding passage, to a place 
in the rear of the Greek church, where are 
altars marking, it is said, the spots where they cast 
lots for his garments ; where he was confined till 
they had prepared the cross ; wh^re occurred the 
conversion of Longinus, the officer who pierced his 
side with a spear, &c. Here also we were conducted, 
by a descent of forty steps, into a large cave, the 
place where Helena discovered the cross. They tell 
us that the Jews, in order to stop the adoration of 
the cross by the early Christians, cast it here into a 
hole called the " Valley of Corpses," where it remained 
three hundred years; that Helena, on digging for it, 
discovered three crosses, and, unable to distinguish 
which was the one she was searching for, had them 
carried to the place where is now the chapel of the 



RENT IN THE ROCK. 



217 



Virgin, and where was then a woman at the point 
of death ; and that the sick person being made 
to touch them, two produced no effect, but the 
third or true cross restored her immediately to 
health. 

Ascending from the cave and following another 
dark passage, we came presently into a chapel about 
fifteen feet square, one side of which is formed by a 
bare precipitous rock. This is a portion of the rocky 
knoll of Golgotha or Calvary ; and here they showed 
us a rent or fissure about sixteen inches in width, 
telling us that it was formed at the time of the cru- 
cifixion, when the veil of the temple was rent in 
twain, and with the quaking of the earth the rocks 
were rent. They tell also a story, which I feel loth 
to repeat, that here, at the time just spoken of, the 
head of Adam was discovered ; and that when the 
Saviour's side was pierced, the blood and water 
flowed down upon it ; that, as Adam had been the 
first to sin, he might be the first to experience the 
benefit of the redemption. 

After giving an impatient glance at these various 
spots, we passed on ; and soon after, emerging once 
more into daylight, found ourselves in the vestibule, 
and at the foot of the staircase leading to the sum- 
mit of Calvary. 

I have mentioned, that on entering the vestibule 
from the outer court, we had before us the stone of 
unction, and on the left the entrance to the circular 

19 



218 



SYRIA. 



Church of the Sepulchre. On the right, at the dis- 
tance of about thirty-five feet, is a narrow stairway 
of eighteen steps, cut in the solid rock, and leading 
to a platform elevated about sixteen feet above the 
lower church, and nearly square, having about forty 
feet on each side. This is Mount Calvary. The 
surface is now level, and paved with red marbles ; 
and, by a kind of partition formed of two arches 
with square columns between, is divided into two 
chambers, one being nearly square and the other 
oblong. They are surmounted by a dome, more 
peaked than that over the church of the Holy 
Sepulchre. When we reached the top of the stairway, 
we found ourselves in the first of these chambers, or 
the square one ; but were first taken across it into 
the other, where a large star, formed of marble mosaic 
work in the pavement, was pointed out as indicating 
the spot where the Saviour was nailed to the cross. 
That designated as the place where the crosses stood 
during the crucifixion is in the first chamber, at its 
northern side. 

Returning to this place, we found there a platform 
against the wall, running the whole way across the 
church, and sixteen inches in height by about three 
feet in width. It was also covered with marbles, 
and half way across had a large embossed silver 
plate with a hole in the centre ; and this is said to 
be over the very spot where stood our Saviour's 
cross. On each side are similar plates, said to be 



MOUNT CALVARY. 



219 



over the holes for the other two crosses ; but the 
holes are so near together, that the arms of the three 
crosses could not have been in a line, unless, as 
might have been the case, that of the Saviour was 
higher or lower than the others. I put my hand 
several times through the hole in the central silver 
plate, and found beneath it a hollow of rough sides, 
rather large, and about a foot or fifteen inches in 
depth. Half way between it and the hole on our 
right, as we stood facing them, is another plate of 
silver about thirty inches in length, and with a nar- 
row slit in it, corresponding, they informed us, to a 
fissure in the rock, the commencement of the crevice 
which we had seen below. There is something 
very much like a crack, about two inches wide, the 
opposite parts of which appear to correspond ; but a 
close examination is prevented by the silver plate 
above ; its direction is across the natural stratifica- 
tion of the rock. The object of these silver plates 
is probably to guard these places from violence, as 
pilgrims or other visitors are much given to chip- 
ping off fragments from such spots* for friends at 
home. Whether these are really the holes where 
the crosses stood, and whether this is a real fracture 
or "rent" in the rock, it is impossible to say ; there 
can be no doubt, however, that this is really a mass 
of native rock; and its elevation is just such as 

* Many parts of Jerusalem bore testimony to our itchings for 
such relics ; fresh fractures were to be seen in a great many places 
on the walls and along the streets. 



220 



SYRIA. 



would be desired for the infliction of death by- 
crucifixion. It is now so built around, and so ? 
covered with marbles, that it is not easy to form an ex- 
act judgment of* its original altitude or extent ; but 
if I may venture a rough estimate of the former^ 
I should say it was about twenty or twenty-five 
feet. It appears to be nearly precipitous at the 
northern end. 

Our feelings while standing on Mount Calvary 
were of that high-wrought but solemn kind that 
we had experienced while at the Sepulchre, but 
not perhaps so strong in degree ; for although 
this was a place of agony and shame, and yet of 
the highest moral grandeur, there was connected 
with the other a depth of humiliation, a complete- 
ness of abandonment, that was extremely affect- 
ing. The grave had received the body of the 
sufferer, cold and stiffened in death ; the wind- 
ing sheet was around those mangled limbs, and 
over the temples where the blood stood on many 
a wound. Nature that day had sympathized and 
shuddered, — but this now had passed ; the taunters ? 
after praying that his blood might be on them 
and on .their children, had gone their way; the 
disciples were appalled and had fled ; the tomb 
was sealed up, and the moon threw its mild rays on 
a scene forsaken apparently of God and of man, 
except the silent sentry pacing to and fro. The 
humiliation was now complete ; the price of our 
ransom was paid to the utmost, and then glory 



THE RESURECTION. 



221 



from heaven poured down upon the spot. The 
God-Redeemer rose, and death, who, though con- 
queror, had set trembling to see the Creator of all 
things prostrate and beneath his sway, was now him- 
self led captive, and made a ministering servant to 
bring the redeemed to eternal glory. 



19* 



222 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Dimensions of the Modern City. Ground within the city, and in 
its environs. Its picturesque appearance. Continuation of our 
visits. Via Dolorosa. Sentence of the Saviour from Salignatius. 
House of Veronica and Picture of the Napkin. House of " the 
Rich Man." Arch of the Ecce Homo. Pilate's House. Mosque 
of Omar. The Locked-up Stone. Pool of Bethesda. Place of 
Stephen's Martyrdom. The Golden Gate. The Emperor Hera- 
clius in a dilemma. 



The modern Jerusalem is about three fourths of 
a mile at its greatest length, and about two thirds of 
a mile in width.* It contains a population of about 
20,000 persons ; namely, 10,000 Mahomedans occu- 
pying principally the northern and eastern portions ; 



* I paced the circuit of the city, taking notes and plans of 
the whole, and marking the towers ; but the paper has been unfor- 
tunately lost. 

The following are the dimensions in detail, as furnished by 
Messrs. Fisk and King : 

paces. 

From IN. W. cor. to the Jaffa ffate, 300 ) Al . , 

" thence to the S. W. corner, 468 \ 768 on the westem Slde > 
" " to Zion gate, 195 J 

" " to bend in S. W. wall, 295 > 1149 on the southern side. 
" " to S. E. corner, 659) 
" " to St. Stephen's gate, 583 I 0/10 ^ 
« " to N. E. corner, 360 \ 94 ° on the eastern Slcle > 

" 11 to Damascus gate. 759) 1/Mn ^ A i -i 
« '< to N. W. corner, 660 \ 1419 on the Mrthe ™ side, 
which, at their computation of five paces to a rod, makes the whole 
circuit two miles and seven tenths, or nearly two thirds of a mile j 
Sandys made it nearly the same, namely, two miles and a half. 



GROUND WITHIN THE CITY. 223 

6,000 Jews living on what was formerly the Acra ; 
3,500 Greeks and Catholics, around the church of 
Calvary ; and about 500 Armenians, in and about 
their great convent on Mount Zion. Of the last 
eminence only a small portion is included within the 
limits of the present city. 

Seen from the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem appears 
to stand on a plain declining gently towards the east ; 
but the ground is far from being an unbroken level. 
On the contrary, it is quite uneven, though in no 
part rising into hills, unless the remains of Mount 
Zion be entitled to this name. The steep descent 
from Zion on the eastward I have already noticed. 
Passing from Calvary to the south-east, we begin imme- 
diately to descend, and towards the site of the ancient 
castle of Antonia the slope is very rapid ; then suc- 
ceeds a piece of low ground for the space of 100 feet; 
and next as we reach the site of the castle is an emi- 
nence fifteen or twenty feet in height, with a rapid 
ascent from the west, but sloping gradually down 
towards the gate of St. Stephen (marked c) in the 
eastern wall. From Calvary, northward and west- 
ward, the ground ascends by a gentle inclination, 
with the exception of the rapid slope already men- 
tioned, at the line which I have marked for Agrippa's 
wall. But this slope does not continue far. 

Without the city on the south and west, after 
crossing the valley of Hinnom, we find ourselves on 
an open and rather barren plain ascending gently as 
it recedes from the city, and stretching off for a dis- 



224 



SYRIA. 



tance of two or three miles ; on the northward the 
ground is rolling for a few miles, when it begins to 
ascend, and at the distance of about five miles at- 
tains considerable elevation ; there was probably the 
Scopus of ancient times. 

On this, the northern side, Jerusalem as it is ap- 
proached appears to the best advantage, as the cultiva- 
ted grounds, the olives scattered thickly around, the 
verdant slopes of the Mount of Olives, toweringupward 
just on the left, impress the visitor favorably with the 
environs of the city ; while the walls of the city 
itself, at the northern end battlemented in a fanciful 
manner, and by numerous angles broken in a pic- 
turesque form, produce, with their numerous towers, 
a very favorable effect. Jerusalem, however, seen 
from a great many points of view, is a highly pictu- 
resque city ; and I can say for myself at least, that I 
found it presenting on the outside a more imposing 
appearance than I had anticipated. War and the 
earthquake had left the interior wretched indeed ; 
nor, as far as we could judge, have its narrow streets, 
and its low rude houses, even in better times, any 
thing very attractive; but from numerous places 
without, and particularly as we wound along the 
valleys below, its battlements, and castles, and towers, 
rising from the edge of the high steep bank, and 
brought into strong relief against the sky, sometimes 
overhanging our path, and sometimes stretching off 
to a distance, appearing and disappearing along the 
uneven ground, had a very picturesque effect, 



PRESENT APPEARANCE OF THE CITY. 225 

When viewed from the Mount of Olives, the whole 
city appears like a map at our feet. The houses, 
which are of stone, are seldom more than two stories 
in height, and on the exterior are rude and without 
any pretensions to beauty ; but when seen from an 
elevated spot, the city has a singular appearance, in 
consequence of the domes, with which every dwell- 
ing is covered. Sometimes every chamber in the 
house has its dome ; and as these are whitewashed 
on the exterior, when we look down upon it from the 
Mount of Olives, the whole city appears dotted over 
with these excrescences. A couple of open green 
spots just within the walls, a few trees rising here 
and there, the tower of the church of the Holy Se- 
pulchre and its large domes, several minarets, and 
close to us the extensive open court of the mosque 
of Omar, with its trees, and in the centre the hand- 
some mosque itself, complete the view as seen from 
the Mount of Olives. 

The walls of Jerusalem are twenty-five or thirty 
feet in height, and are flanked with numerous towers, 
both circular and square ; and at the Jaffa gate are 
still further strengthened by a mass of buildings 
forming a castle. There are four principal gates ; 
and on the north and south two smaller ones or 
posterns, which, however, I believe are seldom 
used. 

Leaving the church of the Holy Sepulchre, we 
turned down a street at right angles to the one by 
which we had come, and leading towards Mount 



226 



SYRIA. 



Moriah. It forms a portion of the " Via Dolorosa," 
or way by which, they tell us, our Saviour came, 
bearing his cross, from the judgment hall to the 
place of his suffering. The street is narrow and 
badly paved, and at the distance of about 600 feet 
from the church, is crossed, for a space of twenty feet, 
by a low heavy arch, which, they say, is a remnant 
of the ancient gateway. I suppose this arch is near 
the line of the northern wall of Acra, but, apart from 
what is said in Josephus, (de Bel. lib. vii. cap. i. § 1 .) 
this arch wants the massive character of that wall ; 
and the account is not at all probable. They call 
it the Puerta Judicaria, and point to a broken 
column as one on which the Roman authorities 
were accustomed to stick the sentence of persons 
condemned to death ; and they quote from Saligna- 
tius that of our Saviour as posted here. " Jesus of 
Nazareth, a subverter of the kingdom, a derider 
of Ccesar, and a false Messiah, as is proved by 
the evidence of the chief men of his nation, is to 
be led to the place of common punishment, and 
with mock majesty is to be crucified between tivo 
thieves ; hasten, Lictor, and prepare the crosses. 17 

We pass on, and again they try to tax our credu- 
lity by pointing to a house on the left, about two 
hundred feet below this gate, as the veritable house 
of Veronica, a pious woman living at the time of 
the crucifixion. They say that as Jesus passed by 
this dwelling, his face covered with blood streaming 
from the crown of thorns, Veronica offered a napkin, 



VIA DOLOROSA. 



227 



which, having been pressed against his face, when 
given again to her was found to present an exact 
copy of his features. Pictures of the Saviour are 
to be seen in all Catholic countries, represented 
as painted on a towel, and said to be copies from 
this. 

Though we cannot believe it, yet there is some- 
thing pretty in the tradition ; and the same may be 
said of a great many of the traditions which they 
relate to us, but it would require an excess of cre- 
dulity to suppose that this is her house, when we 
know that by the infuriated soldiers of Titus every 
dwelling was destroyed ;* and the appearance of the 
building itself must satisfy us that it is comparatively 
a modern dwelling. 

Still lower down they put a climax to all this by 
pointing out the very house in which dwelt " the 
rich man," and the spot (on the opposite side of the 
street) where Lazarus used to recline. The house 
is a large good looking edifice, and I believe is now 
occupied by Aboo Ghoosh. 

Here the Yia Dolorosa bends, for a short space, to 
the left, and then, turning again in the direction of 
St. Stephen's gate, ascends a low eminence, and ter- 
minates at what they call the ruins of Pilate's house. 
At this place is a lofty arch over the street, with two 
windows above, in which, they tell us, the Roman 

* In addition to the passage of Josephus just referred to, see also 
de Bel. lib. vi. cap. ix. § 1. 



228 



SYRIA. 



governors were accustomed to address the people ; 
and which they call " Ecce Homo/ 5 from a tradition 
that the Saviour was there brought out before the 
Jews, when they cried out, demanding his cruci- 
fixion. (John xix. 5.) Here, too, they showed us 
the place from which were taken a suite of marble 
steps, now shown at Rome, as then belonging to the 
Judgment Hall, and which I have seen in that city, 
where no one is allowed to ascend them except on 
his knees. Indeed, all the region around this spot 
is fruitful in their traditions ; some of which are suf- 
ficiently curious, but the reader has probably by this 
time had enough of them. I will only add, that the 
windows over the arch had formerly a pillar between 
them; but that on one occasion a deputy of the 
Sultan being on a visit to the cities of Syria, 
on his arrival at Jerusalem the Father Guardian of 
the Latins neglected to carry him a present, on 
which the deputy ordered him to carry this pillar 
on his shoulders to the mosque of Omar. " But for 
this he was well chastised ; for, on departing from 
Jerusalem, he fell from his horse and broke a leg ; 
so at least it is affirmed by many.' 7 * 

Pilate's house stands a short distance from the 
street leading to St. Stephen's gate ; and we turned 
aside to it, not to speculate upon their traditions, but 
for the advantage offered by the lofty terrace that 
forms its roof for getting a good view of the mosque 



* El Devoto Peregrine 



MOSaUE OF OMAR. 



229 



of Omar. The Turks will allow no Christian to 
•enter even the court of this mosque, and as the 
edifice from which 'we had our view forms a part of 
its boundary, we were able, from our elevated posi- 
tion, to overlook the whole of it. 

This court stands at the south-eastern angle of the 
present city, the walls of which bound it on the east 
and partly at the south. Its dimensions are 1500 
feet by 1000; and it therefore occupies considerably 
more ground than the ancient Mount Moriah. which 
was, I suppose, towards its southern extremity. Its 
clean grounds, and the shade trees which are scat- 
tered over them, make a very pretty appearance. 
The platform in its centre is ornamented along the 
edge on either side by a species of triumphal arch ; 
and the mosque itself, which stands towards the 
southern end of this platform, is a very handsome 
building. It is octagonal, and is built of light colored 
marble with blackish veins, into which are set pan- 
nels of a darker shade. The other portion of the 
building, and the lofty cupola, are ornamented with 
various colored tiles disposed in fanciful patterns ; 
and below, at each of the entrances, is an ornamented 
porch attached. The interior is enriched with 
twenty-four columns and pilasters, and also with 
carving and gilding. 

The mosque of Omar, called by the Arabs El 
JSakhara, or the "Locked-up," owes its high sanctity 
to a large stone in the centre, apparently a portion 
of the native rock of the mountain. It is rough as 

20 



230 



SYRIA. 



when hewn from the quarry, is surrounded by a 
wooden railing about four feet high, and covered by 
a cloth of green stuff and satin. This is the Hadjr- 
el-Sakhara, or the " Locked-up stone." The Turks 
relate that it fell from heaven when the gift of pro- 
phecy was bestowed on man, and was used as a 
seat by the ancient men who were thus endowed. 
But when the prophets were at length compelled 
to abandon it and fly to other countries, the stone 
showed also a disposition to take its departure ; on 
which the archangel Gabriel came, and, grasping it 
with his hand, held it in its place until Mahomet had 
flown from Mecca, and firmly attached it to the 
mountain. The Caliph Omar afterwards built 
around it the present mosque. They show on it 
the marks of the archangel's fingers, made in the 
struggle to detain the rock. 

Beneath the mosque is a cave about eighteen feet 
square, with niches, called by the names of Abra- 
ham, David, Solomon, Elias, Gabriel, and Mahomet, 
but containing nothing remarkable. 

In the south-eastern angle of the large court is 
another edifice of an oblong shape, 162 feet in length 
and 32 in width, called by the Turks El Aksa, and 
used by them as a mosque. It is enriched by a great 
number of columns within, but has a plain exterior; 
the Latins say it was the church used in the Presen- 
tation, but it probably belongs to the times of the 
crusades. 

Immediately without the court of the mosque of 



THE GOLDEN GATE. 



231 



Omar, on the north, is a rectangular pit, about 150 
feet long and 40 wide, and 12 or 15 in depth, 
walled around with hewn stones, evidently placed 
there in very ancient times. It is called the Pool of 
of Bethesda ; but though I should like to consider it 
so, I know not of any sufficient evidence. The sides 
are perpendicular, and the plan is altogether dif- 
ferent from that which the Scriptures would lead us 
to expect. See John v. 2. 

A little beyond the Pool of Bethesda we come to 
the eastern gate of the modern city, called after St- 
Stephen, from a belief that this proto-martyr met his 
death on the slope, by which, just without this, we 
descend to the brook of Kedron. A rock about half 
way down the declivity, projects a little ; and some 
stains, produced by an oxide of iron in the rock, are 
pointed out to the pilgrims as caused by his blood. 

This gate is at present the only outlet on this side 
of the city ; but there was formerly another gate 
opening from the court of the mosque, about 230 
yards further south. It was called from its splendor 
" the Golden Gate ;" but it is now walled up, in con- 
sequence of a tradition current among the Turks, 
that the city will one day be taken by the Christians, 
and that they will make their entrance through this 
gate. 

Connected with it is also a Christian legend, some- 
what fanciful, and of no bad moral, but destined to 
little credit in these severe and searching times. 

In the year 603 Coroes, king of Persia, conquered 



232 



SYRIA. 



Jerusalem ; and after plundering the city and dese- 
crating the holy places, returned to his kingdom , 
carrying back with him the true and venerated cross. 
The emperor Heraclius, fourteen years after this 7 
was fortunate enough not only to regain possession 
of the city, but following up his conquests, recovered 
also the sacred relic. Returning to Jerusalem, his 
intention was to enter the place by "the Golden 
Gate and after having proceeded in grand caval- 
cade to the churches, and having purified them, to 
restore the cross to its original site. Attired in robes 
all glittering with royal gems, and followed by a 
long train of courtiers and nobles, he advanced with 
gladness, and was about to enter through this 
splendid gate, when an invisible but steady hand 
pushed him back. Twice again he essayed to enter, 
but as often was brought suddenly to a stand ; nor 
could any force succeed against this unseen and my- 
sterious power. At this moment Zacharias, the 
patriarch of Jerusalem, came up ; and seeing at once 
how matters stood, exclaimed, "Say, O emperor, 
art thou adorned with these splendid robes, and in this 
triumphant procession, — art thou imitating Him 
who, in Jiumlity and sorrow, bore on his shoulders 
this sacred wood ? Doff thy jewelled garments, put 
on a coarse and humble dress, and quickly shalt thou 
find an entrance, and be able to effect thy pious de- 
sires." The emperor hastened to comply, and the 
invisible hand ceased to obstruct his way.* 



* El Devoto Peregrino, 



233 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Valley of Hinnom. Potter's field. Singular properties attributed 
to its earth. Will not act on the citizens of Rome. Gloomy- 
character of the valley. Job's well. Pool of Siloam. Fountain 
of Siloam. Periodical in its flow. Stones and columns belong- 
ing probably to the court of the ancient temple. Monuments of 
Zachariah and Absalom. Tomb of Jehoshaphat. Burial-place 
of the Jews. Valley of Jehoshaphat. View from the Mount of 
Olives. Plain of Jordan, and the Dead Sea. Garden of Geth- 
semane. Tomb of the Virgin. Tradition about her death and 
ascension. 

Another interesting excursion was along the 
valley of Hinnom or Gehenna, thence up the valley 
of Kedron, or, as I shall hereafter call it, of Jehosha- 
phat, (its present name,) to the summit of the Mount 
of Olives, and to the reputed Garden of Gethsemane. 

We left the city by the Jaffa gate, and began im- 
mediately to descend into the first of these valleys, 
which here widens considerably and then terminates. 
At the distance of about 500 feet from the extremity 
we came to a causeway, stretching quite across, 
and supposed to be an ancient embankment for con- 
fining waters that were discharged from an aque- 
duct still to be seen in the rocks above. This aque- 
duct may be traced for some distance on the 
western side of the valley where the rocks have in 
some places been cut with great labor to make way 



234 



SYRIA. 



for it ; it passes on towards Bethlehem, and I was in- 
formed, has its commencement at the Reservoirs of 
Solomon, about two miles beyond that city. This 
causeway and aqueduct probably belong to the very 
few remnants of the ancient Jerusalem now to be 
seen. 

Our road laid near the bottom of the valley, upon 
the debris of the ancient Jerusalem, consisting of loose 
earth mingled with pottery; immediately over us, on 
the left, rose the frowning battlement of the city ; on 
the right at the distance of about 200 feet were the 
perpendicular cliffs which on that side bounded the 
valley ; they are composed of parallel strata of lime- 
stone, and are pierced with numerous sepulchral 
caves belonging to the times of the Jewish ascend- 
ancy. Near the bend of the valley, in a recess among 
the cliffs, was pointed out the spot supposed to be the 
Aceldama or field of blood. It belongs now to the 
Armenians, and if we are to believe numerous strong 
affirmations, the soil has the property, miraculously 
bestowed, of destroying the flesh of any body de- 
posited in it in the short space of twenty -four hours. 
Earth from this place has been transported both to 
the famous Campo Santo at Pisa in Italy, and to 
Rome ; and in both is said to retain its miraculous 
properties, with the single exception, that in the latter 
city, though it acts on the corpses of strangers, instead 
of eating, it indignantly thrusts out from it the 
bodies of the citizens themselves. For this distinc- 
tion the Romans have to thank themselves. The 



THE FIELD OF BLOOD. 



235 



earth was sent to them in 270 ships by Helena (or 
St. Helena according to the Roman calendar), who 
expected that it would be joyfully received. On its 
arrival, the strangers then in the city joyfully prof- 
fered their services in assisting to unload it, but the 
citizens took the liberty of declining, saying that 
they had already sacred earth enough, since the 
whole of their soil had been consecrated by the 
blood of the numerous martyrs who had suffered 
there. " For which act of contempt it is permitted 
of heaven, that if the body of any Roman is interred 
in the Campo Santo oi Rome, the earth thrusts it 
out, foeted and deformed, but operates on that of a 
stranger as has just been related. There are many 
books which treat on this subject ; and when I was 
myself in Rome, I inquired with great diligence into 
it, so as to inform myself about the matter : and all 
affirmed it to be the fact.'** 

This valley, which had presented a somewhat 
cheerful aspect at its upper extremity, became more 
sombre as we advanced ; and our path, winding at 
last among large fragments of stones, was tiresome 
enough. We had lost sight of the city walls ; the 
hill on our left was solitary and deserted, and around 
us were the ruins of habitations that had once 
covered it ; the vegetation that had carpeted the bot- 
tom of the valley higher up had now ceased, and on 
our right were the rude large cliffs of the opposite 



* El Devoto Peregrmo, p. 68. 



236 



SYRIA. 



precipice. The scene was adapted to recall to our 
minds the ancient times when parents here caused 
their children to pass through the fire to Molech ; it 
was a place well suited to such abominations. The 
valley is about a mile and a quarter in length ; and, 
wearied with its rudeness and dreary solitude, we 
were glad when we emerged at last into the more 
open valley of Jehoshaphat, and found ourselves in 
a wide space, and by a well of cool delicious water. 
It is called Job's well, from a tradition that Job, when 
recovering from his diseases, came and facilitated 
his cure by washing here. 

The valleys both of Hinnom and Jehoshaphat 
were quite dry at the time of our visit, but the nu- 
merous rounded pebbles in the bottom, particularly 
of the latter, gave evidence of rapid torrents- in the 
rainy season. 

Following up the latter valley on the western 
side, we came, at the distance of about 1200 feet from 
Job's well, to the outlet of the valley of Siloam, and 
our road was here crossed by the first stream of water 
that we had seen any where in or about Jerusalem ; 
it is a mere streamlet however, a few drops oozing 
among the clods, and these soon lost in the thirsty 
soil. They come from the Pool of Siloam, which 
was a hundred yards on our left, and presents 
a chamber once apparently arched, and walled on 
either side, but open at the lower end, while from 
the upper part of the other extremity, a small stream 
drops in a light cascade, and forms a pool below, 



FOUNTAIN OF SILOAM. 



237 



still much resorted to for water and for washing. 
Whether it presents the same appearance as in 
ancient times it is impossible to say ; but there can 
be no doubt that the site is exactly that* of the pool 
to which the man blind from his birth was sent to 
wash, and whence he returned with his sight re- 
stored. There is great satisfaction in being able to 
identify a spot so highly interesting, and connected 
with such tender associations as this. 

About 150 yards further on, as we were passing 
along the steep descent to the valley of Jehoshaphat, 
an opening in the rock suddenly presented itself on 
our left, and we found here the Fountain of Siloam 
- — the spot from which the Pool is said to draw, by 
a subterranean channel, its supply of water. It is 
called the Virgin's Fountain, from a tradition that 
she used to resort to it frequently, and its waters are 
still used for diseases of the eye. It may, perhaps, have 
some medicinal qualities ; for it is brackish, and not 
very pleasant to the taste. The fountain is subterra- 
nean, and is reached by a descent of thirty steps cut in 
the solid rock. At my first visit the water was gushing 
out at the bottom of this in a full stream as clear as 
crystal, and in this land of drought was really 
an attractive object. At my second visit, I could 
scarcely recognize it to be the same. The flow had 
ceased, and it was a stagnant pool ; which a lad, fill- 
ing some jars on a donkey alone, had defiled with 

* See Josenluis de Bel. lib. v. cap. 4. § 1. lib. vi. cap. 9. § 5. 



238 



SYRIA. 



sediment so as to give it a yellow muddy color. Its 
flow is periodical, and my visits must have been at 
times when the phenomenon is most striking in its 
operation. The waters of the Pool of Siloam have 
always been represented as sweet and pleasant, and 
those of this fountain are brackish. Can the former 
be supplied from this? It appeared to me also that 
the latter is lo wer than the Pool of Siloam ; but my 
time did not allow me to settle the question. The 
water is conducted off from it by a subterranean 
channel deeply sunk in the hill. 

Not far from this fountain is the south-east- 
ern angle of the present city ; and the wall here, 
projecting a little into the valley, is on this ac- 
count about twice the usual height. Even at a 
distance our attention is attracted by some remark- 
able stones at this corner ; and an examination satis- 
fied me that they belonged to the ancient Jerusalem. 
I have frequently been asked, since my return, 
whether I could see any remains whatever of the 
ancient temple. These stones probably did not 
belong to the temple itself, but there is little doubt 
in my mind that they were a part either of its clois- 
ters, or ,of the huge wall that supported its courts. 
They are just at the foot of Mount Moriah, and are 
in all respects quite different from the stones that 
form the remainder of the present city wall. The 
latter are of irregular shape and of no great dimen- 
sions, such as are to be seen in any common wall. 
These are all rectangular, with a remarkably fine 



REMNANTS OF THE ANCIENT WALL. 239 

joint, and are sometimes of very great size ; I 
noticed some, the length of which would measure 
twenty-one feet ; and they were all of considerable 
dimensions. Though the stones are of the common 
compact limestone found northward of the city, the 
joints are so closely fitted as to be perceptible only 
on a clbse inspection. On the outer surface of each 
stone, is a pannel, raised one fourth of an inch, and 
approaching to within two inches of the joint; there 
is, an edifice at Baalbec, supposed to belong to the 
time of Solomon, the stones of which are all orna- 
mented with a panelling similar to this ; the castle 
or citadel of Damascus is also in the same peculiar 
style of architecture. Josephus, when speaking of 
the wall that supported the court of the temple, 
seems to refer to something like this when he tells 
us that, although the stones were neatly fitted 
together, yet "the vastness of the stones in the 
front was plainly visible on the outside."* 

Built into the wall, at different elevations, from 
this angle on to the Golden gate, are also a great 
many columns, that appear to have belonged in 
ancient times to some splendid edifice. They are 
in a horizontal position ; their extremities, which 
alone are visible, projecting two or three inches 
beyond the face of the wall. Some of them are of 
verd-antique of remarkable beauty, some are of a com- 
mon kind of cipoline, and others are of a very hand- 

* Antiq. lib. xv. cap. 11 § 3. 



240 



SYRIA. 



some rose-colored marble. Their position, directly 
under the site of the ancient temple, and their beauty, 
lead me to think that they belonged once to the 
courts of that splendid edifice. 

In front of us, on the opposite side of the valley 
of Jehoshaphat, were now two remarkable objects, and 
descending, we crossed a bridge which here spanned 
the dry channel of Kedron, in order to examine 
them. They are two square monuments, lying about 
thirty feet above the bottom of the valley, and seem 
to be partly imbedded in the side of the Mount of 
Olives. In fact they are cut out of that mountain, 
being composed each of the solid undetached rock, 
but isolated from the hill by a channel ten or twelve 
feet wide, cut at the back and sides. They are 
called the monuments of Zachariah and Absalom. 

The first of these is ornamented on each face with 
four semi-columns of the Ionic order, and a pilaster 
at each angle, crowned by an entablature, making, 
with the columns, an elevation of about twenty feet ; 
all of this is one solid piece of rock. The whole is 
surmounted by a flat pyramid of masonry, the sides 
of which are smooth, and come down to the edges 
of the cubical mass. We can discover no opening of 
any kind in this monument, though there is doubt- 
less a cavity beneath the pyramid. 

The monument of Absalom stands about one 
hundred feet north of this, and is nearly of the 
same dimensions ; the columns in this, however, are 
of the Doric order, and with an entablature to cor- 



ABSALOM'S TOMB. 



241 



respond. These are also cut in the same mass of 
rock, but are surmounted by a square block of 
masonry edged with mouldings ; this again by a 
circular mass similarly enriched, and this by a sharp 
pointed dome, which, finally, is crowned by a stone 
ornament resembling a flame of fire. In the hinder 
side of this monument is an opening about ten feet 
from the ground, giving access to a chamber in it, 
which is now nearly filled up with pebbles. Both 
Mahomedans and Christians, as they pass along,, 
throw a pebble at the monument, to show their detes- 
tation of the unfilial conduct of him whose name it 
bears. The authority for calling it after Absalom 
is in 2 Samuel xviiL 18. " Now Absalom in his 
lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pil- 
lar, which is in the king's-dale, 'for,' he said, ' I have 
no son to keep my name in remembrance and he 
called the pillar after his own name ; and it is called 
unto this day Absalom's Place." 

It has been conjectured that the columns and 
other exterior ornaments are of more recent date 
than the rest of the work ; but the parts all corres- 
pond so well, and harmonize also so well with the 
shape and proportions of the main body of the 
rock, that I can see no room for such an opinion. 

Between the two monuments is a cave, called the 
Tomb of Jehoshaphat, on what authority it would be 
difficult to say ; it consists of three chambers, one 
of which borders on the front of the precipitous 
^oek in which they are situated, and is there adorned 

21 



242 



SYRIA. 



with two Doric columns, placed so as to support 
the roof. Back of the tomb of Absalom the face 
of the rock is also ornamented with scrolls and 
other sculptures, in bas-relief, covering, apparently, 
the entrance to a tomb cut in the mountain. 

Turning here into a footpath that by zigzag lines 
begins to ascend the Mount of Olives, we found 
ourselves soon in a scene of pathetic interest. Yearn- 
ing ever after the holy land of his forefathers, the 
Jew, as life begins to wear out, often collects together 
his earnings, and rouses up his sinking strength to 
carry him hither, that he may die in Jerusalem, and 
have his bones laid beneath the mountain of the 
ancient temple. They are not permitted to set foot 
within the enclosure of Mount Moriah, but in plea- 
sant weather they may be seen just without the 
outer wall, seated on the ground, and reading in 
their devotional books ; and even for this privilege 
they have to pay the Turkish governor. Sad and 
humbled people ! They come hither from the ends 
Of the earth, and, excluded from the Holy Mountain, 
sit down in the dust without its walls to mourn over 
their desolations, and cry, " Lord, how long, how 
long ?" t And the mark that is set upon them fol- 
lows them, even in death. The Moslems occupy 
the slope down into the valley of Jehoshaphat for 
their own burying-place ; and the Jews, desirous of 
having the shadows of Moriah fall upon their graves, 
have to take the opposite side of the valley along 
the slopes of the Mount of Olives. The ground 



MOUNT OF OLIVES. 



243 



there is whitened with the humble slabs that cover 
their graves. 

"And the Lord shall scatter thee among all 
people, from one end of the earth even unto the 
other ; and among these nations shalt thou find no 
ease, neither shall the sole of the foot have rest." 
The sleep of death ! The graves of such a people 
here by the relics of the ancient city, are a touching 
spectacle ! 

The valley of Jehoshaphat, which takes its name 
from the monument we have just been noticing, is 
about two miles in length. It is the belief, both of 
Mahomedans and of the eastern Christians, that the 
Last Judgment will be held in this place. The 
authority given by the latter is in Joel iii. 2 and 12. 
" I will gather all nations, and will bring them 
down into the valley of Jehoshaphat," &c. — "Let the 
heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of 
Jehoshaphat ; for there will I sit to judge all the 
heathen round about." 

I have already, I believe, mentioned that the 
Mount of Olives is about a mile in length, and about 
seven hundred feet in height. To a spectator on 
the west, it has a gently waving outline, and appears 
to have three summits of nearly equal height. On 
the top of the centre one is a Christian church, 
erected over the spot where, they inform us, our 
Saviour ascended into heaven ; and, in confirmation 
of the fact, point to a stone with the impression of 
the left foot, made ? as they say, as he was about 



2U 



SYRIA. 



leaving the earth ; that of the right foot has beeri 
carried away by the Turks. On Ascension day they 
come up in great crowds, and have service here. 
The chapel had been shaken down by the fecent 
earthquake, and the floor was covered by rubbish , so 
that we did not see the stone, nor did we care about 
it. In Luke xxiv. 50,* it is very clearly stated that 
the ascension occurred near Bethany, which is on 
the eastern side of the mountain, more than a mile 
from this. The Turks have a similar tradition with 
regard to Mahomet in connexion with this spot, and 
close to the Christian chapel have a mosque, also 
nearly laid in ruins by the earthquake. 

From this central height a ridge stretches off 
towards the east for a distauc 8 of three fourths of a 
mile, when it terminates by a boJd descent, We 
were conducted to the end of it in order to enjoy 
the view eastward, which is very extensive. The 
plain of Jordan, the mountain beyond, the Dead Sea ? 
and the dark and singular chain of mountains on 
the east of it, were in full view, as well as all the 
country intermediate between them and us. Some 
of us thought that they could see the waters of the 
Jordan-; but although this was uncertain, Ave could 
easily trace the course of the river through the plain 

* Compare this passage with Acts i. 12, where the ascension is 
also spoken of. There are two roads to Bethany ; one around the 
southern end of the Mount of Olives, and one across its summit j 
the latter being considerably shorter but more difficult. It was pro- 
bably on this latter road, in the descent to Bethany, that the Saviour 
was taken up from the Apostles, 



VIEW FROM THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 245 

by the verdure ; and where this failed, by the bro- 
ken nature of the ground. Beyond it towered the 
lofty mountains of Moab, rising peak above peak in 
great majesty, including among them Mount Nebo ; 
and as I stood gazing upon them, I took pleasure in 
repeating the hymn which I had often sung among 
friends in my own father-land, 

" There is a land of pure delight." 

It had a been part of our design to visit the Jordan 
and the Dead Sea ; but the country was then filled 
with bands of people driven from their homes by the 
incursion of Ibrahim Pasha, and in a high state of 
excitement, as well from disaffection to the govern- 
ment as from their sufferings in consequence of the 
war ; and when we proposed this journey, the men 
who owned our horses refused absolutely to let them 
go. The Governor of Jerusalem said that a guard 
of 300 men would be necessary, and offered to fur- 
nish us with such an escort, if the Commodore de- 
sired it ; but this polite offer was of course declined. 
So we made the most of our mountain view, which 
was a very extensive one. The atmosphere in these 
lands of scanty exhalations is so clear that the Dead 
Sea and the Jordan appeared to be close to us, and 
we wondered that the journey to them should be 
esteemed so toilsome. But glancing at the country 
between us and them, we saw hill succeeding hill, 
till the detail swelled out into a distance of at least 
thirty miles. The country below us was a scene of 

21* 



246 



SYRIA. 



complete and utter desolation ; the hills were bare 
and red, and cut into deep ravines, and in the whole 
stretch between us and the Dead Sea, scarcely a spot 
of verdure could be seen. The mountains east of 
that lake of death have a very unique aspect, rising 
to a great height, and presenting an outline as smooth 
and even as if they were an artificial wall. 

It was a relief to turn from this dreary prospect to 
the fertile and verdant mountain on which we were 
then standing. And as we returned, and, gaining 
the summit towards Jerusalem, looked down over 
its graceful slopes, and at the city, all displayed be- 
fore us, no one could wonder that the Saviour often 
sought the Mount of Olives for meditation ; and that 
the view around, then so varied, so rich, so beautiful, 
and soon to be changed by a fearful war into utter 
desolation, should incite to prayer. 

The sun was now beginning to approach the 
western horizon. We descended by a steep zigzag 
path leading directly down towards the gate of St. 
Stephen; and near the foot of the mountain, now 
immersed in the broad shades of the city, came to a 
spot, that, as soon as it was named, excited a universal 
and powerful interest. It was the Garden of Geth- 
semane. It lies near the foot of the mountain, at 
an angle formed by the branching of the lower road 
to Bethany and that to Jericho, by which we had 
just been descending ; and is marked by eight olive 
trees, that look as if they may have stood almost as 
many centuries. The Latins, to whom they belong. 



GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. 



247 



say, indeed, that they were here in the time of our 
Saviour, and would punish with excommunication 
any person of their order who should venture to 
break a limb or otherwise injure them. They allow 
pilgrims to peel off any loose pieces of bark that 
they may find on the huge trunks ; which accord- 
ingly are kept white and raw looking by the fre- 
quency of such visits. They are very large ; and as 
the olive tree is of very slow growth, there may be 
some truth in the declaration, that the Turks, on re- 
gaining the city from the Crusaders, having imposed 
a yearly tax of ten cents on every olive tree then 
standing, and half as much on any that should be 
planted, the records of the monastery show that 
the former sum was then paid for these trees ; but as 
to the statement that would carry their age to the 
early times of Christianity, we cannot believe it ; for 
if the olive tree itself were ascertained to last so long ? 
we know that Titus had all the trees within several 
leagues cut down* for the construction of banks and 
instruments of assault. 

As to the query whether this is the Garden of 
Gethsemane, I do not see that we have any reason 
for deciding in one way or the other, the notice of 
its location in the Scriptures (and I believe we have 
no others) being so very slight. The ground here 
slopes off more gently than in most other places, and 
is favorable for a garden ; but it is quite near the 
foot of the mountain, and I think the expression 

* Jos. de Bel. lib. vi. cap. 1. § L 



248 



SYRIA. 



(Luke xiv. 26.) " they went out into the Mount of 
Olives," would have led me to look for it higher up ; 
and it seems probable, also, that a spot more retired 
than one so immediately adjoining the thronged city 
would have been selected on such an occasion. But 
these objections are not entitled to much weight, 
and I feel loth to disturb the belief in a spot of such 
tender interest. I broke off a few of the branches, 
and gathered up some of the earth, which I have 
brought home with me. 

Although few of these places can be identified, 
and all have changed, it was still a high gratification 
to know that we were among scenes often blessed 
by the presence of our Saviour and Lord ; that here, 
in this region, he had healed the sick, making joy 
spring up in bosoms where it had been long a stran- 
ger ; here had given sight to the blind, and hearing 
to the deaf, and had taught his pure and benevolent 
doctrines ; and that from the scenery around us, and 
now in our sight, had drawn elucidations and found 
the subjects for his parables. 

About twenty paces northward from this, is a 
cave twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter, to which we 
descend .by eleven steps ; and here they say our Lord 
retired for prayer on this occasion ; and they show 
also the spot where the three disciples reclined and 
slept. 

Proceeding again to the northward, we come, at 
the distance of thirty yards, to a large subterranean 
chamber called the Tomb of the Virgin. It was 



POETICAL TRADITION. 



249 



lighted up for us ; and having descended by a noble 
flight of steps, fifty in number, and twenty feet wide, 
cut in the solid rock, we found ourselves in a lofty 
apartment, branching off into small chambers on the 
right and left. The latter chamber is used as a cha- 
pel by the Copts, while in the other is the reputed 
Tomb of the Virgin, together with an altar. On 
either side of the flight of steps, about half way 
down, is also a recess, containing the reputed tombs 
of her parents, Joachim and Anna, and of Joseph 
the husband of Mary. This region is fruitful in 
traditions connected with the virgin and the apos- 
tles ; but I pass them by, with the exception of one 
that is so full of poetry that I trust I shall be pardon- 
ed for noticing it. 

The Virgin being sick, and now at the point of 
death, prayed her Son that the apostles might all be 
permitted to be present at her departure ; and they 
were accordingly transported in a moment from all 
parts of the world, whither they had travelled 
preaching the gospel ; and found themselves together 
by her bedside at Jerusalem ; all except Thomas, 
who by a particular judgment was left behind. 

She died, and was buried by the apostles in this 
spacious tomb, which they left not for three days 
and nights ; during all which time sweet music from 
unseen angelic harps was floating amid the vaults 
and through the air above. At the end of this time, 
Thomas was placed among them, and was disconso- 
late when he found he had been denied the privilege 



250 



SYRIA. 



of witnessing her death. He begged, however, that 
as he had not been allowed to see her while yet 
alive, he might be permitted to look at the corpse ; 
they complied, and the tomb was opened for him ; 
but the body was gone, nothing remaining but the 
grave clothes and winding sheet. At the same time 
the music of the angels ceased, by which they knew 
that the body was ascending to heaven. Thomas, 
with tears, gazed upward, and caught a glimpse of 
the ascending form ; and to comfort him she dropped 
for him a girdle of marvellous beauty, which fell 
upon a rock adjoining the tomb; " which rock," says 
the book, " is held in the greatest veneration by all 
persons, and has granted for it indulgences, like 
those of the other sacred places of Jerusalem."* 

Maundrefl says of this stone, that there is "a 
winding channel upon it, which they will have to be 
the impression of the girdle when it fell, and to be 
left for the conviction of all such as shall suspect the 
truth of their story." 

* EI Devoto Peregrino, p. 105. 



251 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Visit to the Mount of Olives to procure olive root. Cabinet work 
from it. Attempt, by a Fancy spell, to raise up again the ancient 
city of Jerusalem. Its appearance. Fortifications. Towers. 
Royal palace. Stupendous wall supporting the Courts of the 
Temple. Outer Cloister. Solomon's Porch. Court of the Gen- 
tiles. Inner Cloister. Gate called " Beautiful." Court of the Jews. 
Court of the Priests. Altar. The TEMPLE. Its dazzling 
facade. Noble entrance. Skill of the Architect. Vestibule. 
Grape-vine of Gold. The Sanctuary. Its furniture. Holy of 
Holies. Effect of this place on Pompey. "Walls of the edifice. 
Stones of amazing size. Frame work of the city. Villages and 
gardens around. Effect of the contrast between the Temple and 
Mount of Olives. The millions coming up to the Passover. 
Their Hymns. The Roman army. Titus takes a view of the 
city. Events foretelling its doom. The horror-stricken prophet. 

The olive root makes beautiful cabinet work ; 
and, desirous of procuring some from the Mount of 
Olives to be worked up for my friends, I took one 
day an intrepreter and a couple of natives, and 
ascended the mountain to see if I could purchase 
some. Southward of Absalom's monument is the 
village of Siloa, standing in what appears to have 
been a quarry ; and consisting partly of houses 
erected on the rocky platforms, and in part of caves 
cut in the side of the declivity. This was quite 
deserted ; but near the summit of the mountain I 
was fortunate enough to find a house with occupants. 



252 



SYRIA. 



from whom I purchased the privilege of cutting 
some roots.* It may afford an idea of the state of 
the arts at Jerusalem, when I mention that the best 
axe which we could find in the city was a species 
of blunt grubbing-hoe ; and that we actually grubbed 
through the thick roots ; and this, they informed me, 
is the usual way of cutting wood in that country. 
Mr. Nicholayson had owned an English axe, but 
his Arab guards had carried it off at the conclusion 
of the siege. 

Soon after commencing operations on the trees, 
we found ourselves surrounded by a dozen wild 
looking men, who seemed to have started up from 
beneath the ground, where probably they had been 
concealed in the caves and artificial pits with which 
the country abounds. They were induced, by the 
offer of a trifling compensation, to assist us ; and 
while they were tugging away at the wood, I sat down 
a few yards off to make some plans and sketches of 
the city. In half an hour the interpreter came to 
say that they had all fled ; and on returning I found 
that not an individual of them was to be seen. 

* I trust that I shall be pardoned if I add that the Commodore 
and myself had some of it worked at Mahon into tables represent- 
ing, in Mosaic work, the hills and valleys of Jerusalem, a plan of 
the city, and a view of the Mount of Olives, its buildings and roads. 
The workmanship was well executed, and they make handsome 
pictures. The ingenious workman, Juan Rivdavetz y Prieto, just 
before we left that city, contrived a method of staining on plain 
apple wood, pictures of fruit, &c, with a very rich back-ground, 
forming beautiful cabinet work. The Commodore offered him a 
passage in the Delaware to America; but the love of his native isl- 
and prevailed, and he remained. 



A FANCY SPELL THE ANCIENT CITY. 253 

The soldiers at the city gate below had spied them 
out with their glasses, and a detachment had been sent 
up to seize them ; but they were too cunning, and 
escaped ; and as we stood by the tree, we heard 
them, in their flight, calling to the soldiers, and using 
epithets that were any thing but complimentary. 
I have introduced this simple circumstance, how- 
ever, not so much for its own sake, as to give me an 
opportunity of carrying the reader once more to the 
top of the Mount of Olives. And here I wish him 
to sit down at the spot which I have just been 
occupying on the central eminence, and gaze down 
on this place of wonderful history, and of tender 
and thrilling association. But my object [is not to 
speak of the present city of Jerusalem; I wish to 
blot out all that picture, defaced in so many places 
by wretchedness and unsightly ruins, and to place 
before his imagination the ancient city of Jerusalem, 
when she sat upon these hills in her jewelled orna- 
ments, — when "glorious things were spoken of thee, 
O city of God." 

Often as that city is upon our lips, I believe there 
are few persons who have an idea of its extraordi- 
nary splendor in the olden times ; for it was a place 
not only unique, and of strange religious interest 
but also of wonderful magnificence. The period 
of Solomon's reign might perhaps be selected as that 
when its effect was most imposing * but I prefer for 
our picture the time of the Agrippas, because, while 
the splendor of Jerusalem was scarcely less than in 

22 



254 



SYRIA. 



the reign of Solomon, we have, by the aid of Josephus, 
more ample materials for forming a judgment of its 
appearance ; and this, too, with a slight exception, was 
the city whose streets our Saviour trod, and overwhich, 
while observing it from a spot just below us here on 
the Mount of Olives, he wept in the sad anticipation 
of its downfall. 

And now look northward, and westward, and 
southward, and notice how, from these distant heights, 
the land slopes gently downward ; bending hither- 
ward as if in reverence, and to add dignity to the 
consecrated spot. Now look downward. Behold 
now I spread over the place the spell of a sober and 
chastened Fancy. I call up again the buried objects 
of other days. City of the olden time — arise ! 

See, this is the ancient Jerusalem ! 

Truly it is a magnificent place ; a picture of rare 
and exquisite beauty set in a frame of brilliants. Recov- 
ered from our surprise, and the eye having grown more 
familiar with the unique spectacle, we turn now to 
examine it in detail. And, first, observe the walls by 
which it is begirt ; what a proud and formidable 
array of strength is here. The massive battlements 
seem to set all earthly power at defiance, while the 
stones of immense size excite our wonder, not only 
by their prodigious size, but by their peculiar and 
careful finish. That wall on the north is eighteen 
feet in thickness, and with its battlements and turrets 
is forty-five feet in height ; it runs zigzag, so that 
each part may be raked from the towers, of which 



A FANCY SPELL THE ANCIENT CITY. 255 

there are ninety in this wall. The towers, thirty- 
six feet square, are of solid masonry, and are crowned 
each with two stories or suites of rooms, in which 
architectural beauty is consulted as well as strength, 
and which are of great magnificence. The angles 
in the wall are acute, receding considerably from the 
towers ; and the whole structure, as it sweeps around 
the city, looks like a mountain of solid and immove- 
able rock. At its north-western angle, high above 
all the rest, rises the tower of Psephinus, massive 
below, but in its upper part marked by graceful, 
though still heavy architecture ; it is octangular, and 
attains an elevation of one hundred and twenty-seven 
feet. 

Within this, separating Acra from Bezetha, is 
another wall, a solid mountain of masonry, present- 
ing high angular walls, battlements, and towers of 
exceeding strength ; and here, south of Acra, on the 
edge of Zion,isa third line of similar defences, making, 
with the steepness of the ascent, a bulwark by no means 
less formidable than the rest ; and on the southern and 
western sides of this mountain, grow up from the 
edge of the high rocky precipice, by which it is there 
begirt, lines of broad and high stone-work, present- 
ing an utterly hopeless barrier to an assailant. "Walk 
about Zion, and go round about her ; tell the towers 
thereof ; mark ye well her bulwarks ; beautiful for 
situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion. 
The kings were assembled, they passed by together ; 



256 



SYRIA. 



they saw it, and so they marvelled ; they were trou- 
bled, and hasted away." 

The chief glory of these defences of Zion, how- 
ever, is a nest of towers there at the north-west angle 7 
".which, for largeness, beauty, and strength, are be- 
yond all that are in the habitable earth." They were 
built by Herod, and called after his friend, his 
brother, and his wife. They stand at a point where 
the elevation of Mount Zion, contracting into nar- 
row limits, becomes more remarkable, and thus pre- 
sents their altitude and elaborate architectural 
beauties in a more striking point of view. One of 
them is placed in the sharp angle, and is called the 
tower ot Hippicus. It is 46 feet square ; and to 
an elevation of 55 feet is composed of firm and 
solid masonry, the stones with which it is built 
being 36 feet in length, by eighteen in width, 
and nine in height ; above this enduring mass is a 
reservoir 36 feet in elevation ; next above this 
is a double range of magnificent chambers of or- 
namental yet massive architecture, making an ad- 
ditional height of 46 feet; and above these rise 
battlements and turrets, the whole height of the 
tower being 146 feet. 

A short distance from it we behold the tower Pha- 
saelus, 72 feet square and 164 in height. Seventy- 
two feet of this elevation consists of stones like those 
in the tower just described ; and the rest is composed 
of heavy stone work faced with colonnades ; of richly 
ornamented chambers, and of battlements and turrets. 



THE ANCIENT CITY RAISED AGAIN. 257 

The third tower of Mariamne, named by Herod 
after his wife, is smaller than these, but of exquisite 
beauty, and richly adorned with ornaments ; it at- 
tains an elevation of 91 feet. 

All these look immediately down upon the royal 
palace, also on Mount Zion ; and here the eye is 
wearied with tracing the labyrinth of courts, the 
succession of porticos adorned with rich and cu- 
rious pillars, the ranges of lofty windows, giving 
light to halls where statuary and carved work have 
added their embellishments, and where the vessels 
are of silver and gold. And in the courts below and in 
the gardens are rare trees, and fountains, and brazen 
statues, and winding streams. No cost or skill has 
been spared in this palace by a prince whose re- 
sources were of the most ample kind. These palaces 
and courts and towers are the Kremlin of Jerusalem. 

Observe now that long bridge, with its lofty 
arches, a striking feature in this scene, and adding 
greatly to its picturesque effect. It rises high above 
the dwellings of Acra, and, stretching quite across 
that portion of the city, connects the precincts of 
this palace with the Temple. But let us hasten to 
turn our attention to the Temple. The city has yet 
many striking objects that solicit our attention ; the 
lofty and frowning castle of Antonia, palaces in great 
numbers, private edifices of remarkable architecture, 
brought out into strong relief by the uneven nature of 
the ground, invite our notice ; but the wonderful 
Temple, grand, mysterious, awful, is here before us, 

22* 



258 



SYRIA. 



and the eye glances impatiently at other objects. Let 
us turn then 3 and suffer our eyes to dwell and feast 
on this. 

And it is indeed a glorious sight. It stands here 
all before us ? the walls that support its courts rising 
from the very depths of the valley of Jehoshaphat, 
and towering aloft to an astonishing, a giddy height. 
It was a bold and daring conception — that of carry- 
ing up this mountain of stone-work to such a stu- 
pendous elevation. This wall here fronting us is 
729 feet in height !* On the northern and western 

* Jos. Ant, lib, viii. cap, 3. § 9, lb. lib. xv. cap. 1 1. § 15. Ib. de Bel. 
lib. v. cap. 5. § 1. The height of these walls must strike the reader as 
almost beyond belief ; and I confess that I hesitated about repeating 
them from the Jewish historian, till I came to reflect on the size of 
similar structures in other eastern cities. The walls of Nineveh 
are reported on good authority to have been 100 feet in height, and 
to have been strengthened by 1500 towers 200 feet in elevation. The 
height of the temple of Belus, at Babylon, formed altogether of 
bricks, is computed by Major Rennel at 500 feet, and by Prideaux 
at 600; its ruins still form a mound 200 feet in height. The royal 
palace in the same city was nearly as large as the temple ; and the 
ruins of a castle are still seen 140 feet in height, and half a mile in 
circuit. The walls of this city were 34 miles in circuit— according 
to some writers 60 ; and were broad enough for six chariots to drive 
abreast upon them ; and appear to have been originally 300, or 350 
feet in height ; having been reduced from this to 75 feet by Darius 
Hystaspes in order to check the rebellious spirit of the inhabitants. 

The Egyptian pyramids still afford us a proof of the colossal na- 
ture of such undertakings in ancient times. The largest two of these, 
as has been already stated in this work, being 470 and 456 feet high, 
by 704 and 654 on each side. 

When we reflect on the sacred character of Jerusalem in the eyes 
of all the Jews ; how deeply the temple worship was wrought into 
all their systems, both civil and religious ; how earnest their zeal, 
how entire their devotedness as regards this structure — we are pre- 
pared for something extraordinary. 



A FANCY SPELL THE TEMPLE. 



259 



sides, owing to the inequality of the ground, the 
elevation is somewhat less. 

You perceive that in order to obtain greater strength, 
the walls are not perpendicular, but somewhat slant- 
ing, so that with the ascending nature of the ground 
in the courts above, the whole structure has somewhat 
of a pyramidal form. The stones of which it is com- 
posed are of prodigious size, yet are fitted together 
with the greatest care, and in addition to the secu- 
rity afforded by their magnitude, are strengthened 
internally by means of iron clamps. This wall is 
above 730 feet in length on each side ; it forms an 
exact square, and the whole interior space being 
filled up, we have thus a vast mountain raised by 
human labor, a stupendous structure that must ex- 
cite the astonishment of all succeeding ages. But 
this is only the ground work, the substructure for 
the great Temple and its sacred courts. Look up- 

Josephus computes the number of "pure" persons who came up 
yearly to the feast of the Passover at about 3,000,000. (De Bel. 
lib. II. cap. 14. § 3. lib. vi. cap. 9. § 3.) The vanity of the historian 
may have led him to some exaggeration, but still the number was 
prodigiously great. Many of these brought rich presents to the 
temple, and all were ready to contribute their labor as well as means 
whenever called upon. Agrippa, at one time, had 18,000 men em- 
ployed in repairing the Temple. (Jcs. Antiq. lib. xx. cap. ix. § 7.) 
Solomon employed 80,000 men to cut stone ; 70,000 to transport the 
materials, and 10,000 men constantly on Mount Lebanon to cut 
wood for the Temple, and was seven years in completing it. 

The space comprehended by these lofty walls was not entirely 
filled with earth, a large portion being occupied with vaults and 
subterranean passages. Their extent and the subsequent violence 
will acount for the complete abrasion of this mountain. See Jos. 
de Bel. lib. v. cap. iii. § 1. Antiq. lib. xv. cap. ii. § 7. 



260 



SYRIA. 



ward now; you see along the edge of this wall ? far 
up at its giddy elevation, where the brain reels as it 
attempts to measure the depths below, you see a clois- 
ter or ornamented colonnade, on the outside orna- 
mented with architectural embellishment, and yet 
more remarkable still for massiveness and strength, 
as if to guard from the assaults even of the wildest 
fancy the sacred precincts of the Temple. This clois- 
ter is 55 feet wide, and consists on the outside of a 
range of chambers, and within or towards the Tem- 
ple, of a double row of marble columns 46 feet in 
height, each column consisting of a single block of 
white marble ; the entablature gives to the whole 
cloister or colonnade an elevation of more than 60 
feet. At the southern end, instead of two, are four 
rows of columns, each column six feet in diameter 
and 27 in height ; the heaviness of the shaft being 
relieved by fanciful flutings at the base, and by rich 
leaf-shaped capitals, like those which we consider as 
belonging to the Corinthian order. This end is 
called Solomon's Porch ;* it consists of a nave, if I 
may use the term, 45 feet wide, and in height 100 
feet, with side aisles, each 30 feet wide, and 50 in 
height. It is an enchanting spot, and fanned at that 
high elevation with a perpetual breeze, and is a favorite 
resort ; but, indeed, where, in this whole colonnade, 
forming a complete circuit of 2900 feet, is a spot that 
is not marked by exceeding beauty and magnifi- 

* Thrice referred to in the New Testament, John x. 23. Acts iii. 
11. and v. 12. 



A FANCY SPELL THE TEMPLE. 



261 



cence ? At each angle you perceive towers of elabo- 
rate architecture, crowned with turrets or pinnacles, 
where, gazing downward, the senses recoil with 
horror from the frightful depth. 

But this is only the commencement of the gran- 
deur of this wonderful Temple. Within this clois- 
ter is an open court, running also quite around ; it 
is paved with marble, and its level is broken by a 
few steps of ascent, also passing along the whole 
circuit of the court. This is the court of the Gen- 
tiles ; and inscriptions on columns are seen at inter- 
vals, forbidding this class of people to advance 
nearer to the Temple. Along the inner edge of this 
court runs another cloister, consisting also of a row 
of chambers, with a single colonnade in the interior, 
or looking toward the Temple. In the space al- 
lotted here to the chambers, the ground has taken 
an ascent of seventeen feet from the court of the Gen- 
tiles, but the colonnade itself is on level ground, the 
pillars being, as in the outer colonnade, forty-six 
feet in height, and making, with the entablature, 
likewise a full elevation of more than sixty feet; but 
from the rise of the ground this colonnade is twenty 
feet higher than the other. 

In this cloister, fronting us on the east, is the 
"Beautiful Gate;"* and truly, no one need be directed 
to mark its surpassing magnificence. It is ninety-one 
feet in height by seventy-three in width ; the doors are 
of massive Corinthian brass, covered on both sides, 
* Acts ill. 2. 



262 



SYRIA. 



as are also the jambs and lintels, with plates of gold 
and silver, sometimes plain, sometimes in fretted 
work, or raised into figures in low or in high relief. 
On either side of the doorway is a tower, seventy- 
three feet high, adorned with columns twenty-one 
feet in circumference. On the northern and south- 
ern sides of this cloister are eight other gates, of less 
magnitude, but covered in a similar manner, as are 
also their jambs and lintels, with plates of gold and 
silver ; and strengthened also like the former, with 
towers and massive columns. 

Passing through this, we are once more in an open 
court, paved with marble, and rising by steps towards 
the central point. The eastern side of this court is 
allotted to the worship of the Jewish women, while 
that on the north and south is divided off for the 
men. At the inner edge of this court is again another 
wall ; it is of marble, only a few feet in height, and is 
richly ornamented with sculpture ; it separates the 
court of the Jewish worshippers from the inmost 
court of all, the court of the Priests. 

And there, at the eastern side of this inmost court, 
in the open air, at the apex of this stupendous Pyra- 
midal structure, canopied only by the heavens, stands 
the Altar of Burnt Sacrifice. It is a colossal struc- 
ture, being twenty-seven feet in height and ninety- 
one feet on each of its sides. The ascent is by an 
inclined plane on the south. 

And just beyond it, is the TEMPLE. This looks 
also to the eastward, and as we attempt to gaze upon 



THE ANCIENT TEMPLE RAISED AGAIN. 263 

it in this bright morning sun, now darting its rays 
across the Mount of Olives, our dazzled eyes turn 
away, pained by the glorious sight. It presents a 
front one hundred and eighty-two feet long and of 
an equal height, all of which is covered ivith thick 
plates of gold. What a magnificent spectacle ! 
What a grand termination to this stupendous struc- 
ture, towering upwards from the deep valley towards 
the clouds. Cast your eye downwards, and let it 
range over the immense masses of chiselled rocks, 
wrought into regular shape, enriched with architec- 
tural device, and piled on each other till the senses 
are pained in endeavoring to take in the colossal 
fabric of more than seven hundred feet in height ; 
glance at the huge mouldings into which the wall 
swells at its termination ; mark the high colonnades 
of pure showy marble, that are ranged along the 
edge of this mighty structure ; see within this the 
marble tesselated pavement, ascending by flights of 
steps, and encircling the mountain ; and then again 
another range of light marble porticos sweeping 
quite around ; mark the pavement, again ascending 
by unbroken flights of marble steps ; and here, at 
length, crowning the whole magnificent work, is the 
gorgeous Temple, its front one hundred and eighty- 
two feet high, decked with elaborate architectural 
embellishments, and covered with massive gold. 

And " the Lord is in his Holy Temple, let all the 
earth keep silence before Him." 

Yes, in this gorgeous edifice, raised to such a 



264 



SYRIA. 



stupendous height, wrapped in a splendor that the 
eye can scarcely look upon ; deep within the edifice 
in a spot of mysterious darkness and solitude, is 
shadowed forth the presence of Jehovah ; and this 
Temple belongs not to Jerusalem, but to the whole 
world. And He, the Deity, whose very name is 
awful, and should be used with reverence, hath 
blessed this spot with his peculiar presence ; and it 
is meet that man should look upon it with deep and 
solemn feeling. " How amiable," said the Psalmist, 
when far distant, " how amiable are thy tabernacles, 
O Lord of Hosts. My soul longeth, yea, even faint- 
eth, for the courts of the Lord ; my heart and my 
flesh crieth out for the living God. For a day in thy 
courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a 
door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell 
in the tents of wickedness." 

In this eastern front of the Temple is an open and 
ornamented door-way, 46 feet wide and 128 feet in 
height. The architect of this edifice was a man of 
skill. He knew well the powerful effect produced 
by the prevalence of high ascending lines in a build- 
ing, and in the Temple he has taken advantage of 
this effect, and with the best results. How fine is 
the appearance of this grand and lofty door-way, 
open also so as to give a view of the rich vestibule 
just within ! Our thoughts and our feelings, what- 
ever they may be, are not checked at the very thresh- 
hold, but are allowed to penetrate to a short distance ; 
they are not excluded from the edifice ; they enter 



FANCY SPELL THE TEMPLE. 



265 



sufficiently to make us a part of it ; and yet it is not 
made common by being all exposed ; sufficient of it 
remains shut up to excite our wonder, to cherish 
feelings of respect, to inspire that awe which arises 
from mystery. 

He who may enter this lofty door-way, will find 
himself in a vestibule at right angles with his path ; 
it is 36 feet wide, 92 in length, and 164 feet in height. 
The wall in front of him is all covered with plates of 
gold, which, like that on the exterior front, is in va- 
rious forms, smooth and highly burnished, or in 
patterns of embossed work, or in figures of various 
kinds. From the lofty ceiling, which the eye is 
pained in attempting to reach, hangs down a golden 
vine, with leaves and fruit of the same metal, and so 
colossal are its dimensions, that the clusters of grapes 
are six feet in length.* Our foot may not be placed 
within this vestibule ; but through the large open 
door-way we can discover much of the splendor by 

* I have been unwilling to break the thread of description by refer- 
ences ; but my authorities are in Josephus, Antiq. lib. xv. cap. 11. 
lib. viii. cap. 3. de Bel. lib. v. cap. 5. 

If the reader should think this account of the richness of the Tem- 
ple incredible, he is requested to consult ancient authors about 
similar structures in other countries. The Parthenon at Athens 
cost sixty millions of dollars; the Propylaea, or entrance to the 
Acropolis, on which it stands, cost half as much ; the statue of Mi- 
nerva in the former was of ivory and gold ; the gold alone cost more 
than half a million of dollars. The statue, decorations, and utensils 
in the Temple of Belus, according to Diodorus Siculus, were equal in 
value to more than 200 millions of our dollars. When Titus had 
taken Jerusalem, gold was so abundant among his soldiers, that in 
Syria a pound of it sold for half its former value. See Jos. de Bel. 
lib. vi. cap. 6. § 1. 



266 



SYRIA. 



which it is distinguished. In the golden wall that 
bounds our vision at its further side, is a door-way 
twenty-nine feet wide by 100 in height, covered by 
a Babylonian curtain, of blue and scarlet and purple, 
richly embroidered, and of wonderful workmanship. 
Its ample folds conceal a door, which, like the wall, 
is covered with plates of gold, plain or in various 
patterns, and of exceeding richness. 

He who enters this door will find himself in The 
Sanctuary. This is a chamber thirty-six feet wide and 
seventy-two in length, and 109 in height ; its height, 
however, cannot be reached by the eye ; for this 
chamber is in darkness, except the obscure light shed 
upon it by several lamps. Daylight cannot pene- 
trate it, unless occasionally a feeble glimmering 
through the door-way ; a mysterious obscurity is left 
to pervade it. and the vision, turning upward, combats 
for a while the deepening shadows, and is then re- 
pelled by utter darkness. The furniture of this room 
is simple, for it contains only the Table of Shew- 
bread, and the Golden Candlestick, and the Altar of 
Incense. While the incense ascends silently, and 
keeps the chamber filled with perpetual odours, the 
softened light of the Seven Golden Lamps of the 
Candlestick falls upon a table with twelve loaves of 
bread, one for each tribe ; as if, by this simple em- 
blem, the staff of his life kept here in memorial, man 
would gratefully acknowledge by whom his exist- 
ence is prolonged, and whence are derived its bless- 
ings. There is something in this quiet and simple 



THE ANCIENT TEMPLE. 



26*" 



scene, a subdued and humble, yet grateful character 
in its speech, that is very impressive. 

At the further end of this chamber is again a door- 
way covered by a thick veil of many folds. It opens 
into a square chamber thirty-six feet on each side, 
and 109 in height. In this chamber there is nothing 
at all. It is quite dark ; and its deep obscurity and 
its vacancy are fit emblems of HIM who is invisible 
to mortal eye, and whom mortal thought can never 
reach. This is the Holy of Holies. It is entered 
only by the High Priest, and by him but once a year. 
Unadorned, and deeply shut up within the Temple, 
it is left to darkness, and silence, and impressive 
solitude. 

When Pompey, after a toilsome siege, at length 
took this mountain by assault, he hastened to the 
Temple, incited both by curiosity, and by a desire to 
feed his eye on the wealth that had at length become 
his own ; but when, having examined the Sanctuary 
in its dim mysterious light, and then, raising this 
veil, he stood in the Holy of Holies, and found no 
object, nought but an obscurity that his eye, as he 
gazed upward, sought in vain to pierce, a feeling of 
awe and dread seems to have come upon him ; he 
left the Temple, having touched neither its furniture 
nor its treasure, and, calling off his troops, he gave 
orders to repair the injuries that had been occasioned 
by his assault. 

The walls of this building are fourteen and a hal f 
feet in thickness, and are composed of stones forty- 



268 



SYRIA. 



six feet long by twenty-one in width, and fourteen 
in thickness, interspersed with some that have the 
astonishing length of eighty-two feet.* The main 
body of the edifice, containing the Sanctuary and the 
Holy of Holies, is so narrow in proportion to its ele- 
vation, that it would be in danger from earthquakes 
if that were not guarded against by an outer wall nine 
feet from this, with which it is connected so as to form 
between them three tiers of cells, thirty in each tier ; 
the upper part of the building is used as store-rooms 
for the furniture and utensils of the Temple. The 
vestibule, being at right angles with the body of the 
edifice, projects thirty-six feet on either side. The 
stone employed here appears to be a pure white mar- 
ble, for those portions of the building which are not 
covered with plates of gold are of dazzling whiteness, 
so as to appear at a distance like a mountain covered 
with snow. 

The whole mass, the foundation walls, the porticoes, 
the Temple, are indeed a wonderful structure ; and 
with the sacred and solemn associations connected 
with them, form an object of surpassing interest and 
grandeur. 

And now look down again upon the city and upon 
the fair region stretching all around. The ground 
on which Jerusalem is built, assists greatly, as you 
perceive, in giving it architectural effect. Babylon, 
Nineveh, Thebes, Memphis, those cities of ancient 

* Stones are still to be seen at the Great Temple of Baalbec sixty- 
four feet in length. 



FANCY SPELL THE ENVIRONS. 269 

renown, were built on level plains, and with all their 
riches and greatness were in most parts tame 
and monotonous ; but here the picturesque is added 
to greatness and splendor ; the walls and towers over- 
hang deep precipices ; the lofty palaces are brought 
into stronger relief by their situations ; each portion 
of the city, by harmony or by contrast, adds a charm 
to every other ; and the Temple, like another sun 
chained to the dizzy heights of Moriah, sheds an efful- 
gence over all. 

Gaze now around. What a frame-work is there 
for the city of Jerusalem ! See the villages, embo- 
somed in gardens of deep verdure, sprinkled thickly 
over all the plains, which, ascending as they retire 
from the city, expose every object to our view. Here 
the houses stand in thick clusters, there they strag- 
gle along amid the overhanging trees ; and the whole 
immense extent of country seems only a continuation 
of the city in a more cheerful form. And this Mount 
of Olives, what a beautiful object it must be when 
viewed from the city. Its graceful slopes, its gardens, 
its deep shade, its white cottages, its villas, where the 
wealthy love to retire, half exposed, half concealed, 
by the dense verdure ; its groves and public walks ; 
what an admirable picture they form ; and alongside 
of the stupendous and glittering pyramid of Mount 
Moriah, each by contrast gives new beauties and 
new cfiarms to the other. Where in all the world 
shall we find a scene equal to this? 

And now glance your eye along these roads that 

23* 



270 



SYRIA. 



come winding over the hills by which Jerusalem is 
encircled. See ! The whole country seems awaken- 
ed into an intensity of life and animation. It is the 
Passover. Far off as the eye can reach, the great 
highways and the narrow paths are covered with 
masses of living beings, thousands upon thousands 
pouring onwards, and still succeeded by other thou- 
sands, till it seems as if the whole habitable globe 
was sending its inhabitants and its tribute to this 
sacred city. And it does. Here are " Parthians and 
Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopo- 
tamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus and 
Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and in the 
parts of Lybia about Greece, and strangers of Rome, 
and Cretes, and Arabians," in their various costumes, 
and speaking their various tongues. The number 
that assembles here on this occasion is about three 
millions. They come, some purely from religious 
feeling, some also for commerce ; for the occasion is 
seized by dwellers in far distant countries for the 
interchange of commodities. As they approach the 
city, however, a common feeling takes possession of all 
of them, delight, reverence, awe, wonder, admiration. 
As they gain the summits of the distant hills, and 
catch a view of the Temple, they burst into shouts 
of joy, they prostrate themselves upon the ground, 
they break out into hymns of praise. The air 
seems burdened by the noises that unceasingly as- 
cend ; one while they are like the roar of the ocean ; 
at another, they rise, and sink, and swell upward 



FANCY SPELL THE PASSOVER. 271 

again into lofty strains of wonder and thanksgiving; 
the earth trembles under the moving to and fro of 
these countless multitudes. See — still they come, 
thousands and yet still countless thousands pressing 
onward towards the city. The eye is wearied with 
beholding them ; the senses are pained and over- 
whelmed. 

And now the sounds abate and sink into a deep but 
continuous murmur. They are preparing for 'the 
Paschal sacrifice. The multitudes are divided into 
companies of from ten to twenty, and each company, 
by a deputy appointed for that purpose, is to offer 
in the courts of the temple a lamb without blemish 
or spot ; the blood is to be sprinkled at the foot of 
the great altar, and the fat is to be cast upon it for a 
burnt offering. There will be 250,000 of these sa- 
crifices. 

See ! the courts of the Temple, the flat roofs of the 
colonnades, are covered by the dense throngs ; the 
walls and towers of the city, the terraces of the 
lofty dwellings of Jerusalem, are crowded by the 
multitudes ; and the ascending plains around, and the 
slopes of the Mount of Olives, are all animated ; it 
is an ocean of living beings. 

And now they are silent all. Soon you will per- 
ceive a great cloud of smoke roll up from the altar and 
envelope the Temple, and then you will hear their 
hymns. There it is ! and astounding ! the millions 
of voices that ascend seem to burst the very heavens ; 
the mountain shakes under the strange concussion. 
— Their Hymn. — 



272 



SYRIA. 



Hallelujah! Hallelujah! 
O praise God in his holiness, 
Praise him in the firmament of his power. 
Praise him for his mighty acts, 
Praise him for his excellent greatness. 
Instrumental music accompanying. 

Praise him in the sound of the trumpet, 
Praise him upon the lute and harp. 
Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. 
Children of the Levites, from the Temple. 

« Thine ordinances, O God, how glorious they are. 

But tell us, fathers of Israel, what mean ye by this 
service 1 

Solemn recitative, from the Elders. 

It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over 
the houses of the children of Israel, in Egypt, when he 
smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. 
Hymn from Mount Moriah. 

Sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. 
He has brought us in and planted us in the mountain of his 
inheritance ; 

In the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, 

In the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thine own hands have 
established. 
Full chorus of all the multitudes. 

The Lord is our strength, and he is become our salvation. 

He is our God, and we will honor his habitation. 

Our father's God, and we will exalt him. 

Hallelujah. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. Hal- 
lelujah. 

Full company of instrumental music, on Mount Moriah. 

Now listen, this is the hymn of solemn invocation. 

From the Priests in the inner Court. 

The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. 
The name of the God of Jacob defend thee, 
Send thee help out of the Sanctuary, and strengthen thee out 
of Zion. 



THE PASCHAL SACRIFICE. 



273 



Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifices. 
Grant thee according to thy heart's desire, and fulfil all thy 
mind. 

Be merciful unto us, O God, be merciful unto us; for our soul 
trusteth in thee. 

Response from the deputies in the surrounding courts. 

Hear our cry, O God ; give ear unto our supplications. 
From the ends of the earth will we call upon thee when our 

heart is in heaviness. 
Our souls wait only upon God ; for our expectation is from 

him. 

He is our salvation and our glory ; he is the rock of our 
strength and our refuge. 

Response from the full multitude. 

Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy ; our souls wait 

only upon thee. 
Thou art our salvation and our glory ; thou art the rock of 

our strength and our refuge. 

HYMN THIRD. 

Voices of the full multitude. 

O sing unto the Lord a new song ; for he hath done marvel- 
lous things. 

With his own right hand, and with his holy arm, hath he 

gotten himself the victory. 
The Lord hath declared his salvation; his righteousness 

hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen. 
He hath remembered his mercy and truth towards the house 

of Israel ; 

And all the ends of the world have seen the salvation of our 
God. 

Show yourselves joyful before the Lord, all ye lands ; sing, 

rejoice, and give thanks. 
Praise the Lord upon the harp ; sing to the harp with a psalm 

of thanksgiving. 
With trumpets also, and shawms, O show yourselves joyful 

before the Lord, the king. 
Full outburst of instrumental music on Mount Moriah. 



274 



SYRIA. 



HYMN FOURTH. 

Voices of the strangers. 

How amiable are thy Tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts. 
I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house 
of the Lord. 

Our feet stand joyfully within thy gates, O Jerusalem. 
Voices of the citizens. 

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, for the peace of Jerusalem ; 
they shall prosper that love thee. 

Full chorus of all, both strangers and citizens. 

Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy 
palaces. 

For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will wish thee 
prosperity. 

Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy 
good. 

Hallelujah! The Lord shall reign for ever and ever! 
Hallelujah! 

*■ * * * * * 

City of Jerusalem ! art thou then to be a heap of 
ruins ? Land of glory ! art thou then to be a deso- 
lation ? Temple of the living God, to which exceed- 
ing beauty and wonderful associations draw our 
hearts, art thou then to be laid in the dust, till not 
one stone shall be left upon another? It is even so. 

The voices of the worshippers are suddenly 
hushed, for upon yon distant hills, to the northward, 
is the glitter of armor ; and see, the heights are now 
all covered with a dense array of the legions of Rome. 
Their leader comes here to reconnoitre, and from 
this mountain looks down upon the glorious city. 

" It must be — 
And yet it moves me, Romans ! it confounds 
The counsels of my firm philosophy, 



TITUS OMENS. 



275 



That Ruin's merciless ploughshare must pass o'er, 

And barren salt be sown on yon proud city. 

As on our olive-crowned hill we stand, 

"Where Kedron at our feet its scanty waters 

Distils from stone to stone with gentle motion, 

As through a valley sacred to sweet Peace. 

How boldly doth it front us ! how majestically ! 

Like a luxurious vineyard, the hill- side 

Is hung with marble fabrics, line on line, 

Terrace o'er terrace, nearer still, and nearer 

To the blue heavens. Here bright and sumptuous palaces, 

With cool and verdant gardens interspersed ; 

Here towers of war, that frown in massy strength, 

While over all hangs the rich purple eve. 

And as our clouds of battle, dust, and smoke, 

Are melted into air, behold the Temple, 

In undisturbed and lone serenity, 

Finding itself a solemn sanctuary 

In the profound of heaven ! It stands before us 

A mount of snow, fretted with golden pinnacles ! 

The very sun, as though he worshipped there, 

Lingers upon the gilded cedar roofs ! 

And down the long and branching porticoes, 

On every flowery sculptured capital 

Glitters the homage of his parting beams. 

By Hercules ! the sight might almost win 

The offended majesty of Rome to mercy." 

MlLMAN. 

It is a wonderful city, wonderful in its origin, in its 
history, in its present character ; strange events, too, 
have been foretelling its doom, and terrible is to be 
its downfall. 

A flaming sword was seen night after night, for the 
space of a year, suspended over the city ; the inhabit- 
ants crowded to the Temple, they offered sacrifices, 
but still that bloody sword was over them ; the timid 
uried themselves in their chambers and wept ; the 



276 



SYRIA. 



gay tried to forget it in debauch, but still it hung 
above the city, and the hearts of the stoutest at length 
quailed before it. It has lately disappeared, but they 
do not know whether to consider this as an omen 
for good or for evil. 

Also the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, which 
requires twenty men to move it, one night, though 
secured by heavy bolts, opened of its own accord, 
as if to show that the spirits which had been keep- 
ing guard in the Temple were leaving it. 

Also one night at Pentecost, as the priests were 
going to their duties in the inner court of the Tem- 
ple, they felt a quaking of the earth, and then, as 
they stood to recover from their dread, they heard a 
whispering noise as of a multitude of people, saying, 
" Let us go hence? 

Even now, as we have been sitting here, a lonely 
and mournful, but loud voice, has been repeating in 
the lanes and in the high streets of the city, "Wo, wo 
to Jerusalem !" And for four years, by day and in 
the deep stillness of night, that melancholy cry has 
been unceasingly heard denouncing wo to the affright- 
ed an4 cowering inhabitants. A plain countryman 
came up to the Feast of Tabernacles four years ago 
while the country was prosperous and at peace ; 
and while engaged in the duties of this occasion 
became suddenly a changed man, and before the 
multitudes cried aloud, " A voice from the east, a 
voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a 
voice against Jerusalem and the Holy House, a voice 



THE HORROR-STRICKEN PROPHET. 277 

against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice 
against this whole people !" A dead weight of fear 
has ever since lain upon the spirits of the inhabitants, 
crushing the timid, and oppressing even the boldest. 
They have tried by every means to stop his mournful 
cry; they have beaten him till his bones were laid 
bare, but he made no supplication and shed no 
tears ; they have carried him before the rulers, but 
he has not been awed to silence, nor to their 
queries and threats has he made any reply ; he has 
associated with no one, but in the crowded city has 
made himself a solitary and a lonely man ; he has 
not complained when ill treated and abused from 
day to day ; he has not thanked those who gave him 
food; to each he has replied only by his usual excla- 
mation of, wo to the city ; the channels of all feeling, 
except a deep and dreadful horror, seem to have 
been frozen up. He rests but little ; something 
within him hath murdered sleep. At midnight, 
when all nature is hushed in death-like repose, 
from amid the deep darkness his mournful voice 
is heard ; and the mother starts and draws her 
infant to her breast, and the sentry on his post 
trembles at the prolonged and melancholy cry, 
"Wo, wo, wo to Jerusalem !" 

****** 
The wo hath been poured out upon the unhappy 

city. 

****** 
Eleven hundred thousand persons perished dur- 

24 



278 



SYRIA. 



ing the siege, by famine, pestilence, or by human 
violence. Ninety-seven thousand at its close were 
carried as captives into distant lands.* 

* See Jos. de Bel. lib. vi. cap. v. § 3. Ibid. cap. ix. § 3 ; and for 
the prodigies^ see also Tacitus, Hist. lib. v. cap. xiiL 



279 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Visit to Bethlehem. Well of the Star. Monastery of Elijah. 
Rachael's Tomb. Plain of the Shepherds. Town of Bethlehem. 
Character of its inhabitants. Church and Cave of the Nativity. 
Traditions. The Turpentine Tree, &c. Manufactures of the 
•Bethlehemites. Tattooing. Country northward from Jerusalem, 
Cave of Jeremiah. Hill of Bezetha. Tombs of the Kings. Dr. 
Clarke's subterranean Chapels. Ancient quarries. Tombs of 
the Judges. Thorn from which the Saviour's crown is supposed to 
have been made. Difficulty at the Gates. Yaoub and the Soldiers. 

On the morning of the 18th we started for Bethle- 
hem, which lies at the distance of about five miles from 
Jerusalem on the south. Leavingby the Jaffa gate, and 
crossing by difficult paths the valley of Hinnom, we 
had then before us an elevated plain bordered east- 
wardly by the valley of Jehoshaphat, about two miles 
wide, and extending three miles toward the south, 
in which direction it has a slight ascent. As we 
passed on, a troop of cavalry, which had been out 
at their morning drill, came sweeping along on our 
left; but when they had passed us, we were left alone 
in the open country, where scarcely a sign of cultiva- 
tion appeared. A blight has for a great many years 
been upon this doomed and unhappy land. At the 
distance of about two miles from the city, we came 
to a well, called " the well of the kings," or, " the 



280 



SYRIA. 



well of the star/' from a tradition that when the wise 
men had left Jerusalem for Bethlehem, and had 
reached this place, the star (Matthew ii. 9.) appeared 
again, and led them on to the couch of the infant Mes- 
siah. At the extremity of this plain, and on a height 
commanding a view both of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, 
is the Greek monastery of Elijah, where is one of the 
sacred places of the country. " Here," says el Devoto 
Peregrino, " is a rock impressed by the body of the 
holy prophet, as natural as if it had been stamped 
there ; for we see the head, the shoulders, the ribs 
and body, extended horizontally. This is the place 
to which the holy prophet retired to contemplate the 
future Messiah ; and where, looking towards Bethle- 
hem, he saw him enveloped in coarse swaddling clothes, 
but surrounded by angels, singing glory to God in the 
highest ; and, looking towards Jerusalem, saw him 
nailed to the cross and crowned with thorns, while 
the multitude around were blaspheming and in- 
sulting him." 

Sandys, in his quaint style, remarks of it : " Hard 
by is a flat rock, whereon they told us that the 
prophet was accustomed to sleepe, and that it beares 
as yet the impression of his body. Indeed, there are 
certaine hollowes in the same, but not by mine eyes 
apprehended to retaine any manly proportions." 

I speak of the place from the authority of others, 
for I felt no disposition at the time to trouble myself 
with matters of this nature. Indeed, it requires a 
constant effort in travellers among these places to 



MONASTERY OF ELIJAH. 



281 



keep the mind free from disgust, and from the bane- 
ful effects of the errors, that, like leeches, have fasten- 
ed themselves to the truth, covering and deforming 
it, and exhausting its power, while they themselves 
live on its fading strength. 

The monastery is surrounded by a strong wall, 
and looks as if it might be a place adapted as much 
for defence as for devotion. 

Bethlehem here came into full view, though more 
than two miles distant; the country between it and us, 
although broken, being rather low, and the town itself 
being situated on an eminence of steep ascent. On the 
way, we left, at a short distance on our right hand, 
a small square edifice surmounted by a dome, evi- 
dently a modern structure, but called the tomb of 
Rachael, and regarded by Moslems as well as by the 
Christian sects here with high respect. Further on 
to our left, and below the town of Bethlehem, was 
a small valley, covered even at this hot season 
with a refreshing verdure ; and here they inform us 
the shepherds were watching their flocks by night, 
when the angel appeared to announce glad tidings 
of great joy, the birth of " a Saviour, which is Christ 
the Lord." Near this is also a well, said to be the 
one from which David's three " mighty men" pro- 
cured him water at the risk of their lives. Passing 
these spots, we soon after arrived at the outskirts of 
Bethlehem ; and as our large cavalcade wound up 
the steep ascent, the whole population of the place 
came crowding along the way, hanging over the rude 

24* 



282. 



SYRIA. 



walls, and filling every door and window. They are all 
Christians in name, though they bear an indifferent 
character ; and, what in these countries strikes one 
with surprise, the women appeared with their faces 
exposed, and frequently very good-looking faces they 
were. Our arrival seemed to excite a very unusual 
sensation, which I was able to account for by and 
by, when one of the men, taking me aside in the 
convent, asked seriously whether the report was true, 
" that we had come to take the place from the Egyp- 
tian Pasha." They bear no good feeling towards 
the Moslem power, and have always been refractory 
and troublesome subjects to the Porte; their insulated 
situation, and the facilities for retiring to mountain 
fastnesses in the wild country around, encouraging in 
them bold and independent habits. We were in- 
formed that when the general order from Mohammed 
Ali for disarming the populace of Syria was carried 
to them, they sent in about a dozen muskets, saying, 
that these were all they had ; nor could any threats 
wrest more from them, though the place has three or 
four hundred fighting men well equipped. The town 
is situated on a piece of isolated table land, of sudden 
elevation on every side. On the east this runs out 
into a narrow tongue, and at the extremity of this 
projection, 200 yards distant from the village, are the 
monastery and church of the Franciscans, covering 
the spot where the Messiah was born. 

The recent earthquake had rent the massive walls 
of these edifices, but not so as to endanger them, 
and we met with a ready and hospitable reception 



THE BETHLEHEMITES. 



283 



beneath the roof. The door of entrance is low and 
strong, and every where in this country is the 
traveller reminded of the insecurity of life and pro- 
perty ; and, unless people would live there with a 
martyr's spirit, of the necessity of being constantly 
prepared for defence. 

Having entered the building, we were carried 
along some winding passages, and found ourselves 
presently in a church that had once been splendid, 
but which is now in a dilapidated state, owing 
partly to the effects of time, and partly to the spoli- 
ations of the Turks. It has four rows of columns, 
ten in each row, and still imposing objects, the effect 
of which is heightened by gilding and paintings on 
the wall ; but the colors are dim, and the pavement 
is torn up, and the place has a melancholy grandeur 
that chills and oppresses the feelings. 

They took us from this, after a short period for 
resting, into some side passages, and we soon found 
ourselves descending into the Cave of the Nativity. 
It is reached at one end by a tortuous underground 
passage, but on the other by a flight of steps that 
brings us at once to the spot. We were introduced 
by the former of these, and after winding along for 
a distance of about fifty feet, we turned short to the 
left, and a flood of light bursting suddenly upon us, 
we knew that we were in the Chapel or Cave of the 
Nativity. The main body of this subterranean 
apartment is about thirty-five feet long by twelve in 
width, with a height of ten or twelve feet, but it is 



284 



SYRIA. 



irregular in shape. On either side, as we advanced, 
were benches or seats for those who may choose to 
come here for meditation. Having proceeded about 
twenty feet, we came to a small apartment on our 
right, about ten feet square, the floor of which is 
lower by eighteen inches than the remainder of the 
cave ; it is open in front, where are two pillars to 
support the roof. On the three remaining sides are 
shallow recesses ; one of which, they inform us, is 
the manger in which the infant Messiah was laid ; 
in the recess opposite the Magi sat, and in the third 
they deposited the gifts of " gold, frankincense, and 
myrrh." The rock over this apartment is bare, and 
visitors are allowed to break off small fragments ; 
the other portions of the cave are all lined with pre- 
cious marbles. 

Just beyond this spot the cave branches to the 
right and left, a broad flight of steps, on either hand, 
leading, at the distance of about twenty feet, to the 
surface of the ground ; at the angle formed by this 
branching is another recess, about three feet deep 
and six in length. It is occupied by an altar, over 
which is a handsome painting of the Adoration ; 
the altar is in form of a table, and beneath it, at the 
centre of a star formed of marble mosaic work, is a 
silver plate inscribed, 

H1C DE VIRGINE MARIA JESUS CHRISTUS NATUS 

EST. 

Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary. 

I suppose there can be no reasonable doubt that 



CAVE OF THE NATIVITY. 



285 



this is actually the cave of the Nativity. Hadrian, 
in derision of the Christians, placed here a statue of 
Adonis, and Helena, not long after, erected the church, 
the remains of which we have just been examining. 
Jerome speaks of the place as undisputed in his 
day ; and as he resided here a while, we must sup- 
pose him well acquainted with the subject. A sub- 
terranean chamber, on the right of the winding pas- 
sage by which we had reached this cave, is still 
pointed out as his study ; they show, adjoining to it, 
also, the place where the bodies of the Innocents 
were cast, the sepulchre of St. Jerome, that of 
Eusebius, and that also of St. Paula and her 
daughter Eustoquio, persons distinguished in the 
Romish calendar. Over the small chamber in 
which the manger is situated, they show also what 
they call a picture of St. Jerome, stained miracu- 
lously in the natural rock. 

It is sad, when we enter a place of such powerful 
interest, to be met at the very threshold with things 
that we cannot believe ; and instead of being left to 
indulge in salutary reflections, to be compelled to 
commence separating truth from error, and fixing 
their boundaries, or else to feel the repulsive and 
chilling effect of scepticism settling upon the whole. 
The great error of the Romish and Greek churches 
here has been in endeavoring to fix upon a locality 
for every event noticed in Scripture ; and even the 
parables of our Saviour have not been suffered to 
escape from this spirit of blind and injudicious zeal, 



286 



SYRIA. 



They point out upon the Mount of Olives spots as 
those where the Saviour taught the Lord's Prayer, 
where the Apostles composed the creed, where 
Christ wept over Jerusalem, where he preached the 
Judgment, &c. ; and on Mount Zion, where the 
last supper was held, where Peter retired to weep, 
where Isaiah was sawn in two, and a great variety 
of other places with which it is not necessary to 
fatigue the reader. 

And as if this were not enough, they have got up 
traditions of the wildest and most startling nature, 
and the whole country is full of the localities with 
which these are connected. On the way out to 
Bethlehem are two which I have not yet noticed, 
and at which I will now barely glance. One is a 
place where formerly stood a turpentine tree. As 
the Virgin was going to Jerusalem with the infant 
for the Presentation in the Temple, this tree bowed 
and did reverence as they passed ; and to make its 
show of respect more lasting, did not return to its 
former position, but remained thus inclined. It was 
worthy of observation, too, that ever after, though 
the air might be sultry and stifling in all the region 
about it, yet under this tree was always a refresh- 
ing breeze. Indulgences were granted to those 
who recited prayers beneath it ; wood was cut from 
it by night (through fear of the Turks), and carried, 
in the form of crosses, all over Europe. The Arabs, 
at length, in a fit of ill humor, cut it down. 

As we descend the hill toward Bethlehem is an- 



THE TREE THAT DID REVERENCE. 287 

other spot made sacred by their traditions. The 
Virgin passing by this place, saw a man sowing or 
planting beans, and asking him what he was employ- 
ed at, received for answer, that he was sowing peb- 
bles ; on which, the beans in his basket turned to 
pebbles, nor has any care since that availed to make 
the field produce any thing else than stones. 

These are only specimens of the superstitious le- 
gends with which the whole region is filled. 

On our return to the convent, we found an excel- 
lent dinner in a state of preparation by the monks, 
who indeed, during the whole of our visit, treated 
us with great hospitality and attention ; on leaving it, 
we, in return, made them a present of some gold coin, 
which, as was perfectly proper, they accepted. Dur- 
ing the recent troubles in the country, the strong 
walls of their monastery had afforded protection to 
the persons and property of many of the inhabitants 
of Bethlehem; and we found several of the chambers 
and passages still filled with furniture and bags of 
grain. While dinner was in preparation, the natives 
of the town crowded in with a great variety of 
articles which they are in the habit of making for 
pilgrims ; crosses, inkstands, boxes of mother of pearl, 
huge clasps for girdles made of a complete shell 
with figures cut in relief, and beads of the same ma- 
terial, and of a substance called Mecca-stone, which 
is sometimes colored red or black. Most of these objects 
were rude enough, but some of the figures in relief 
were conceived and executed in a manner that would 



SYRIA. 



not have disgraced an Italian artist. The pilgrims 
place these things first in the Cave of the Nativity, 
and then carry them to the Holy Sepulchre, where, 
being deposited on the tomb, prayers are said over 
them, which are supposed to give them a superna- 
tural power over evil spirits, so far as to protect the 
persons and property of the possessors. 

While most of us were laying in large stores of 
their bead and pearl manufactures, some of our 
younger companions were submitting to the painful 
process of having figures, from Scriptural subjects, 
pricked and staiued in the arm with blue or black 
pigment, a species of tattooing, at which, it seems, 
the Bethlehemites are expert, and to which pilgrims 
very often submit. It is not often that they have 
such a market for their commodities, and I believe 
our visit to Bethlehem will long be remembered ; to 
us it was certainly a very interesting epoch. 



Taking our usual interpreter, an intelligent young 
Armenian, for a guide, and accompanied, whether 
we would or no, by a half crazy and yet very shrewd 
fellow, called Yaoub, a party of us made an excur- 
sion one day to " the Tombs of the Kings." They lie 
about three quarters of a mile north of the city, amid 
olive groves and fields ; and we found the walk there 
pleasanter than we anticipated. 

We passed out by the Damascus gate, so called 
from the circumstance that the great road from Da- 
mascus enters the city here ; and soon after leaving 
it, turned to our right to examine a huge cavern 



TOMBS OF THE KINGS. 



289 



that stood yawning upon us. It is called the Cave 
of Jeremiah, from a tradition that he made it his re- 
sidence ; it is above 100 feet deep, by seventy in 
width and thirty in height, and is a gloomy, de- 
solate place, such as we may suppose would have 
been chosen by the author of the Lamentations ; but 
I presume there is no other authority for its name. 

We were now on the hill Bezetha, where stood 
the Neopolis, or New City, inclosed by Agrippa's 
wall. The hill is still marked with tolerable distinct- 
ness, though it is in no place very high. It is ridge 
shaped, declining gently towards the east and west, 
and ascending gradually towards the north. Passing 
on, we reached, in a short time, a square pit with 
smooth perpendicular sides, about 100 feet on each 
side and fifteen in depth, cut in the solid rock, and re- 
sembling a quarry, which it may have originally been. 
An inclined plane at the north-eastern angle leads 
to the bottom; and having descended by this, we had 
opposite to us, on the south, a portico about twenty- 
five feet long by ten in depth, cut out of the solid rock ; 
this is surmounted by an entablature, enriched with 
flowing sculpture of plants and fruits, in bold relief, 
and of very superior execution. At the eastern end of 
this portico was a hole, formerly a door-way of easy 
passage, but now so filled up that we could enter only 
by prostrating ourselves flat on the ground, and 
pushing ourselves forward by the feet. Having en- 
tered in this manner, we found that we were in a 
room about twenty feet square, cut entirely out of 

25 



290 



SYRIA. 



the solid rock. It appears to have served as a vesti- 
bule to other chambers, of which there are six in 
number, each with one or more receptacles for the 
dead. These consist of troughs cut out of the native 
rock, not sunk in the floor as is generally the case in 
the ancient sepulchres about this city, but on its 
level ; fragments of the covers of one or two were 
scattered about the rooms ; these were enriched with 
flowing sculpture, very well executed in strong relief; 
the coffins or sarcophagi were in other respects en- 
tirely plain. 

The doors by which these chambers were closed 
are very remarkable objects. They are of stone, and 
are in dimensions about forty by thirty inches, and 
are six inches in thickness. Above and below are 
projecting knobs, forming a portion of the same stone, 
four inches in length ; these were inserted into cor- 
responding sockets, and formed the pivots on which 
the door revolved ; but the question, how they were 
inserted into the grooves, is one that it would be diffi- 
cult to solve. It is said that the ancients had a mode 
of fastening these doors so that no one who had not 
the secret could open them without breaking the 
stone. . I have seen similar grooves in the gateway 
of the citadel of Mycenae in Greece ; and the sculp- 
ture belonging to these tombs, so strongly resembling 
the Grecian, appears to indicate for them an origin in 
the latter days of the ancient city. They are pro- 
bably what by Josephus are called Herod's Monu- 
ment, and in another place, " the sepulchral caverns 



TOMBS OF THE JUDGES. 



291 



of the Kings and I think we may reasonably sup- 
pose them to have been formed by Herod. If this 
surmise with regard to their name is correct, they re- 
ceive an additional interest, as showing us the 
northern boundary of the " new city" of Bezetha. 

From this we proceeded to visit " the Tombs 
of the Judges," which lie nearly a mile further, in a 
course somewhat west of north. The ground was 
still cultivated in patches, and was covered with 
olive trees; the surface undulating. We passed, on 
the way, several subterranean apartments like that 
which Dr. Clarke discovered on the Mount of 
Olives, and which he supposed to have been a 
chapel for the secret and forbidden worship of the 
false gods. They are in shape like a bee-hive, are 
plaistered, and are entered by a small hole at 
the apex, which is the only opening. To our judg- 
ment they seemed designed to be reservoirs for wa- 
ter, or for granaries, but were most probably the 
former. Several years since I discovered one 
exactly similar to these, on some heights overlook- 
ing the site of the ancient Abydos at the Darda- 
nelles. 

We were now getting into an interesting region, 
evidently that from which were procured the huge 
blocks that formed the walls of the ancient city. 
The rock here is compact and solid, and of a fine 
texture ; and for a great distance, and in every direc- 
tion, exhibited the appearance that rocks would do 

* Jos. de Bel. lib. v. cap. xiii. § 2. and lb. cap. iv. % 



292 



SYRIA. 



from which large rectangular blocks with smooth 
surfaces had been cut. The vertical sections were 
regular and smooth, and sometimes fifteen or twenty 
feet in height. In the face of them were a great num- 
ber of tombs, such as I have already described ; some- 
times consisting of a single chamber, sometimes of a 
succession of chambers, and with from two to four 
burial-places each, generally without ornament, and, 
as far as we observed, without inscriptions. 

The largest of these chambers are called the 
Tombs of the Judges ; but as the name is probably 
fanciful, we gave it little attention. Nor are the 
tombs themselves, except in size, more interesting 
than the others. These tombs are scattered over a 
surface of about a square mile, and are numerous. 

In the interval between this and the city grows 
abundantly a thorn, which is considered to be the 
species from which the Saviour's crown of thorns 
was made. It is called the Rhamnus Paliurus, and 
consists of a bush with long slender twigs, on which 
are, alternately, a long and a short thorn, slightly 
curved and very sharp. It is found all over Syria, 
and also in Asia Minor. 

We sjet out from this on our return ; but the sun 
had set, and when we reached the city gates we 
found them closed ; nor, in the strict vigilance 
which the recent dangers had taught them, was it 
at that time easy to get them opened again. Our 
crazy friend, Yaoub, who had been acting the merry- 
andrew along the road, now, however, interfered. 



YAOUB AND THE SOLDIERS. 293 

and was more serviceable than a more sensible per- 
son would have been. He hailed a soldier, whom, 
in his walks about, he spied reconnoitring us 
through a loop-hole, and the man of gunpowder 
and bullets, perhaps thinking him sufficiently crazy 
to be a Turkish Santon or Saint, was at length 
brought to a parley. A messenger was despatched 
forthwith to the Governor ; and Yaoub, now once 
more quite at ease, called to the soldiers to pass him 
a pipe beneath the gate, which having been done, he 
sat down to enjoy its fumes and his own importance. 
The messenger at length returned, and the guard 
having been mustered, and the gates having been 
thrown wide open, we were about to advance, when 
we were met by a couple of dozen fixed bayonets 
directly at our breast. We were brought to a stand 
till a more careful scrutiny of our faces had satisfied 
the officers that we were not wild Arabs in disguise 5 
when the ranks opened, and we were allowed to 
enter. And we found that the prospect of spending 
the night in the open fields, that for a while was 
staring upon lis, was sufficient to give a charm even 
to our hard and uneasy quarters in the convent. 



25* 



294 



CHAPTER XX. 

Departure of the first party. Mohammed Ali T s firman, and alarm 
of the Governor. Sickness of Mr. M. and Mr. Nicholaysom 
Trials of Missionaries. Their general character and qualifica- 
tions. Moonlight view of Jerusalem, and reflections. Arrival 
of the second party. Interview with the Governor. Visit to Beth- 
any. Departure from Jerusalem. 

Our party, with a good store of relics, olive canes 
from the Mount of Olives, and other memorials of 
their visit, left Jerusalem on the morning of the 
20th ; their early departure being occasioned by a 
desire to give the officers, who had remained in 
charge of the ships, also an opportunity of visiting 
the city. 

While we were preparing to sail from Alexandria, 
the Egyptian monarch had ordered to be prepared 
for Commodore Patterson a letter of introduction to 
Ibrahim Pasha, and a firman for all Syria, worded 
in strong terms of kindness, commanding all persons, 
whether in authority or otherwise, to treat him, and 
those with him, with the same respect and attention 
that they would show personally to Mohammed Ali 
himself. The Commodore, during his stay in Jeru- 
salem, had made an official call on the Governor, 
but not finding him at home, had made no use of 



THE GOVERNOR'S ALARM. 



295 



the firman. Just, however, as the party were pre- 
paring to leave the city, the Governor heard of it, 
probably through the Pasha of Jaffa, where it had 
been used, and in great alarm sent immediately to 
apologize for not having shown the party greater 
attentions. When they reached the gate this morn- 
ing, they found on the outside a double file of sol- 
diers, who presented arms, and the Governor him- 
self here joined the Commodore, and accompanied 
him some distance from the city. He regretted that 
he had not had official notice of our coming, so that 
he might have prepared accommodations for the 
party; and said that when the second company 
should arrive, they would find a commodious house 
ready for them. We certainly, however, had no 
cause of complaint ; for we had every where 
been treated with respect and kindness ; and the 
Governor's offer of a large escort to the plain of 
Jordan I have already noticed. The anecdote will 
show the dread in which the Egyptian Pasha is 
held through all his dominions. 

I did not accompany the party back, having 
received permission to remain till the second com- 
pany should conclude their visit. Mr. M., our sail- 
ing-master, who was ill of a fever, and unable to 
ride, was also left behind ; and as the fever began 
to increase rapidly upon him, we accepted Mr. 
Nicholayson's invitation, and had him placed in 
more comfortable quarters at the Missionary house. 
But Mr. Nicholayson was now himself becoming 



296 



SYRIA. 



seriously ill. His health had been for some time 
feeble; and recent exposure to the sun, and fatigue, 
had brought on sickness. It was now evident that 
a violent fever was burning in his veins. There 
was no nurse in the house, and I removed also from 
the convent to this hospital, for such Mr. N.'s dwell- 
ing had now literally become. 

I shall not soon forget the night that followed 
these changes, a night of the deepest anxiety and 
distress. In the lower part of the house was a 
little girl, daughter of the Armenian patriarch of 
Beirout, put here to board, sick with the ophthalmia ; 
two servants were also ill of fevers, and unable to 
help themselves ; Mrs. N. was just recovering from 
a long sickness, and durst not expose herself to 
fatigue. In one corner of the room with me was 
Mr. M., restless, and in a burning heat, and on an 
adjoining bed was stretched Mr. N., now in a high 
fever, and quite delirious. For the others we could 
find some medicines tolerably appropriate, but the 
case of the last gentleman baffled our judgment, 
and there was not a physician to be had in the 
place. It was sad to be compelled to sit and listen 
to his ravings, and to see the disease hourly taking 
stronger hold upon him, and know not what to do. 
The ruling passion of his life was still prevailing, 
even in his wildest fancies ; and his language was 
about the mission and its friends, or else he was 
disputing with the Jewish Rabbis, and quoting He- 
brew from their voluminous authors. Thus wore 



TRIALS OF MISSIONARIES. 



297 



the night away, a long and distressing night ; and 
the day brought no relief, for we had the grief to 
see our friend sinking fast under his fiery disease. 
The fever left him towards evening, but as weak as 
an infant, and now particularly needing assistance 
which we knew not how to give ; for the disease 
appeared to be of a complicated nature, and the little 
medicine which we ventured to administer, had done 
harm rather than good. If I could picture that 
missionary family as I saw it there, the scene would, 
I think, be a refutation of the charges of those who 
seem to think that missionaries go abroad for selfish 
and unworthy purposes. They had just passed 
through times of alarm and distress, such as per- 
sons seldom, and in our homes are never, called to 
witness ; a city for days rocked and shattered by 
earthquakes, till the affrighted inhabitants knew not 
where to fly, and then plundered by fierce and law- 
less men. Their house had been pierced with can- 
non balls, and they were compelled to fly from one 
place to another for shelter ; one of their company, 
whose health had been too feeble for these rude 
shocks, they had carried to the tomb, and had buried 
her beside another martyr in the same cause of 
missions.* In the house were now six invalids, some 
very ill, and one, the head of the family, apparently 
at the point of death ; nor was there a physician to 
be any where found. — And the grave which we 
expected to dig for him was soon after this, dug for 

* Dr. Dalton, from England. 



298 



SYRIA. 



another of the mission family, Dr. Dodge, whom we 
met on the way as we were returning to Jaffa. Yet 
they keep their ground, undismayed by dangers and 
death ; suffering discomforts with cheerfulness ; pa- 
tient amid rebuffs, and with a zeal that tries, even in 
subjects of disappointment, to find new sources of 
hope, and that " fainteth not, neither is weary." Nine 
months after this, as our ship was lying in Gibraltar 
bay, I heard that Mrs. Nicholayson was on board an 
English brig that, after suffering severely in a storm, 
had just come in and anchored ; and procuring a 
boat, I went within speaking distance, for the brig 
was in quarantine, and we were not permitted to 
go on board. She was then taking her little children 
to England for the purpose of putting them to school, 
and among society less hurtful to youthful minds than 
that of the east ; and after thus leaving them, was to 
return to her far distant and now childless home. 
If in all this is not a picture of self-denial, and patient 
endurance, and Christian boldness, and painful sa- 
crifice, I do not know what is ; and yet it is only a 
plain statement of facts. In our ships we are apt to 
complain of discomforts ; and yet we have plenty of 
medicines, and good surgical attendance, food such 
as we are accustomed to at home, and society and 
abundance of comforts of every kind ; and yet it 
seems a hard case to be three years from home ; and 
I now speak of ships in particular, because their in- 
mates know what it is to be a long time from one's 
native land. But suppose it were for life ; and a life 



CHARACTER OF MISSIONARIES. 299 

separated from the comforts to which we have been 
accustomed, shut out in a great measure from intel- 
ligent society; a life of drudgery too, offering know- 
ledge to those who care not for it ; simplifying its 
nature, and bringing it to the capacities of all, and 
yet exciting little interest, and perhaps a sneer ? Is 
this a life to be sought for, for the sake of worldly 
considerations? I think not. There is only one 
way in which we can reconcile it even with com- 
mon sense ; and that is, by supposing that missiona- 
ries are sincere ; that they love their work ; that the 
promises of the gospel, and the cheering influences 
of heavenly grace, support them ; and that they look 
to eternity for their exceeding great reward. And 
when we look at them in this point of view, how 
engaging is their work, and how Godlike the errand 
on which they are gone? And it was a truly noble 
act in that church which I now love doubly to call 
my own — the Episcopal church, — when, at the last 
General Convention, its clerical and lay deputies 
from all parts of the country unanimously resolved 
that the whole Episcopal church be hereafter a Mis- 
sionary Society ; and declared that the cause of mis- 
sions is the cause of religion, and a love for missions 
an essential part of the Christian character. 

As regards the missionaries themselves, I do not 
know any class of men that presents, as a body, a 
more respectable array of talent or intelligence than 
this ; and if any one should be disposed to doubt 
the fact, the proof is very easily to be found. He has 



300 



SYRIA. 



onJy to take their reports to their several societies, 
their letters and published addresses to the public, 
and when he has read them, I will challenge him to 
produce from any other class of men, productions so 
uniformly correct in style, so free from puerilities, 
and so abundant in useful facts and valuable senti- 
ments. In geography and statistics, in mineralogy, 
in geology, and in various other matters of science, 
they have furnished us with a mass of most valuable 
information from all parts of the world ; their obser- 
vations are minute, and generally very correct ; and 
if the world were to receive no other benefit than the 
knowledge which their papers have scattered among 
our community, it would be recompensed for the mo- 
ney bestowed upon them. I do not wish to write their 
panegyric, but to defend them from charges which I 
have often heard brought against them ; and the de- 
fence is a simple statement of facts which are before 
the public, and to which any man who chooses may 
have access. As to the charge that the pictures they 
give of their successes are over-wrought, I believe it 
often to be just ; and it is not strange that men who 
have given their lives to one great subject, and are filled 
with zeal and are in earnest about it, should sometimes 
over-rate their influence, or, in the excitement of sup- 
posed or real success, should draw a picture more 
highly colored than a cooler observation of facts 
would warrant. But this, I believe, is the extent of 
their offending; they themselves appear to have 
been taught by experience greater distrust and cau- 



MOONLIGHT VIEW. 



301 



tion in these matters ; and their recent accounts will 
be found to be more stamped with prudence, and more 
the result of cool and calm observation, than they 
formerly were ; while they show no diminution of in- 
terest in their great work. I cannot help again earnest- 
ly recommending their letters and reports home, and 
repeating that these reports, coming from so large 
a number of men, and so variously situated, are re- 
markable for perspicuity of style, and for simplicity 
and yet force of expression. 

The night of the 21st passed away like the pre- 
ceding one, a long night, and one of great anxiety ; 
life seemed to be hanging by so brittle a thread, that 
the least shock appeared capable of breaking it. I 
stole now and then from the sick man's couch, and 
looked out upon the city, bathed in moonlight, and 
hushed in the deepest repose. How quiet ! how 
tranquil ! Could this be the Jerusalem where, in a 
short time, 1,100,000 had perished amid the horrors 
of war ? 

The view from my window took in the Mount of 
Olives, the dark wall-like range beyond overhanging 
the Dead Sea, the mosque of Omar, the church of 
Mount Calvary, and a large portion of the city ; and 
offered subjects for solemn and useful contempla- 
tion. 

Could we have the history of all nations written by 
men to whom God had condescended to unfold the 
reasons for his acts, would it — would it not — appear 
like those of the Jews ? Should we not find what 

26 



302 



SYRIA. 



we call man's doings very often the doings of God ; 
and man only the agent, a free agent, and yet, by 
the'mysterious combination of His Omnipotence with 
our freedom, man only an agent in working great 
events : and those events acts of reward or of retribu- 
tion from Heaven on kingdoms for their observance 
or neglect of His commandments ? 

Over yon mountain David passed, dethroned, ex- 
pelled, a fugitive from his own son ; attended only 
by a small train of attached but desponding friends. 
If we knew not the cause of this, it might have 
been passed as thousands of such acts pass in history, 
leading us to as little useful reflection ; but we are in- 
formed why it was ; and these thousand other acts in 
history, are they not retributive too ? And will not the 
same apply to nations ? And, could we see into 
Heaven's councils, should we not find what appears 
to be the entangled web of national events all plain 
and simple — a few simple and general rules, as in 
the works of nature, pervading and governing the 
whole ? And would not the first of these be that the 
fear of God and respect for his commandments are 
the only source of national happiness and national 
stability? 

On that mountain Titus also stood, and formed 
plans for the destruction of the ancient city. To 
himself and to his Roman army the son of Vespasian 
was there for his own purposes ; but be this as it 
may, toe know that there were also other purposes to 
be effected. In the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, 



ARRIVAL OF SECOND PARTY. 303 

though the application is complicated, yet a simple 
principle stands at the head of it all ; " If thou shalt 
hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy 
God, to observe and to do all his commandments, 
blessed shalt thou be M if thou wilt not hearken 
diligently to observe and to do, cursed shalt thou be ; 
and the Lord shall bring a nation against thee from 
afar," &c. The passage is too long for quotation, 
but I beg the reader to turn to it and read from the 
49th to the 58th verses inclusive, and compare them 
with Josephus' account of the siege of Jerusalem; and 
ask himself if the same rule does not probably apply 
to us, and if we have not reason to "fear this glori- 
ous and fearful name— THE LORD THY GOD." 



About five o'clock on the following afternoon a 
second party from our ship, consisting of about fifty 
persons, arrived ; and were met at the gate by an 
officer from the Governor, who came to say that a 
house had been provided, and was ready to receive 
them. This was indeed doing things on a hand- 
some scale ; and the party gladly accepting his hos- 
pitality, were shown to a large edifice not far from 
the entrance of the city, which, after sundry ablu- 
tions, proved to be a very comfortable and convenient 
lodging place. In the party was Doctor B., who 
immediately came over to see Mr. Nicholayson, and 
on examining, spoke very doubtfully of his case- 
Tired, however as he was, he immediately offered his 
services for the night ; and he afterwards persevered 



304 



SYRIA. 



in a course of most assiduous attention s, which ? 
doubtless, were the means of saving a valuable life. 
When we left the city on the 25th, Mr. N. was yet 
very weak, but convalescent ; and, we were happy to 
hear, afterwards entirely recovered. We were glad, 
also, to be able to send the mission family, from the 
ship, some wine and other comforts, which their cir- 
cumstances urgently required. 

Captain Nicolson, who came with the second 
party, took an early opportunity of calling, with 
most of his officers, to pay his respects to the 
Governor of Jerusalem. He resides in a large, but 
by no means splendid house, near the centre of the 
city ; and on our arrival we were detained a short 
time till the servants could get his women out of 
the way. We found him a tall and fine-looking 
man, with marks of old age creeping upon him ; 
which, however, did not seem to affect his gallantry 
towards the ladies, as he told us that he had lately 
added another wife to his household. The usual 
compliment of pipes, sherbet, &c, was paid ; and 
while the odoriferous fumes were ascending in 
graceful curves, a rambling conversation was car- 
ried on, sometimes about this country, and some- 
times about our own. The frank address of Captain 
N. soon thawed the old gentleman's gravity, and the 
interview was more lively and full of humor than 
is usual in a Turkish divan. The officers all took 
part in the conversation, each with proper respect ; 
and the Governor seemed to be quite surprised at 



BETHANY. 



305 



the accounts we gave him of the extent and 
resources of our country, the length of our rivers, and 
our rapid growth as a nation. If we did not con- 
vince him that America is the greatest country in 
the world, I think we must at least have satisfied 
him that we have a very high opinion of it ourselves. 
He seemed to be amused and gratified, and we parted 
right good friends. 

During the stay of this party, I took Yaoub as guide 
one day, and went out to make a visit to Bethany. It 
lies on a pretty steep declivity on the eastern side of 
the Mount of Olives, and I believe I have already 
stated that there are two roads to it, one directly 
across the mountain, and another, much less diffi- 
cult, winding around the southern extremity. By 
the latter it is about three miles distant. There are 
now only a few miserable houses remaining, together 
with the ruins of a large and massive building, 
which, they tell us, was the house of Lazarus. They 
take the visitor also to a cave, in which, they say, 
he was buried ; but in all these assertions I have 
little confidence. 

The 25th was fixed upon for our departure, and 
at two o'clock in the morning our cavalcade was 
formed without the gates, and we began to move for- 
ward towards the ship. As we passed on, I turned 
often to take another look at the city, whose white 
domes and minarets were still visible above the ser- 
rated walls, and were now shining with silvery lus- 
tre in the quiet moonlight. 

26* 



306 



SYRIA. 



Farewell then, Jerusalem, city of marvels ; 
wonderful, awful, enthroned in the hearts of men, 
making a part of the very soul and life-blood of thy 
people. City of God ! when shalt thou revive again? 
Terrible has been thy fall ; wo upon wo was poured 
out upon thee ; thou art stricken to the dust ; and 
yet in thy humiliation, in the very depths of abase- 
ment, thou still art great ! Thou drawest to 
thee pilgrims of three religions, whose empires stretch 
east and west till they meet again in the opposite 
confines of our globe ; they come to thee to wor- 
ship, they come to thee to die ! In lands far distant 
and of recent birth, we are taught to lisp thy name 
in our childhood ; thy scenes and thy history min- 
gle in our earliest dreams ; and in the moments 
when we most need comfort, our thoughts turn 
towards thee ! 

Mount Calvary ! the atmosphere does not more 
closely invest our globe, and enter into and support 
our systems, than does the comfort that flows from 
thy bloody cross encircle, and penetrate, and sup- 
port our souls. Without it we gasp and perish. 
Mysterious ! that to su ch a bloody scene we should 
have to resort for consolation. Wonderful religion, 
that teaches us that by the deep and a wful humiliation 
of God we are elevated to glory ; and, after leading 
us amid creation, and showing us that He is wise 
and powerful, takes us here and at the foot of the 
cross shows that He is also of boundless goodness. 

Saviour, who hast ransomed us, be thou enthroned 



DEPARTURE FROM JERUSALEM. 307 

in our hearts ! We descend the winding pathway, 
and the city of our redemption is shut from our 
sight : help us to enter the New Jerusalem, and to 
come to that Zion where is everlasting gladness, 
and from which sorrow and sighing for ever flee 
away ! 



308 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Accident on our return. Visit to St. Jean D'Acre. Also to Tyre. 
Prophecies respecting Tyre fulfilled. Visit to Sidon. Lady 
Hester Stanhope. Her letter of invitation to us. Visit to her 
residence at D'joun Beirout. Missionary families at Beirout. 
Striking feature in the Protestant Missionary operations. Their 
schools and printing presses. 

An accident, by which one of our party was 
seriously hurt, on our way back, damped the grati- 
fication of our visit and retarded our progress ; but 
having left the invalid officer and Dr. B. at Ramla, 
we were able to reach the ship in good season the 
same evening. Some seamen were despatched dur- 
ing the night with a litter ; and having thus got 
our companions on board, we weighed anchor on 
the afternoon of the 26th, and with a light breeze 
stood northwardly along the coast. 

As we passed Csesarea, about thirty-five miles dis- 
tant from Jaffa, our glasses enabled us to distinguish 
a few masses of masonry, which is all that remains of 
that once large and magnificent city. »A few hours 
after this we came opposite to the northern termina- 
tion of Mount Carmel, on the summit of which the 
monastery of Elijah* was a very conspicuous object. 

* 1 Kings, chap, xviii. 



ST. JEAN D'ACRE. 



309 



The French ensign was flying on the top of it, pro- 
bably in answer to our colors. The mountain was 
green, and had an agreeable appearance ; it thrusts 
itself some distance into the sea, and forms the 
southern extremity of a large bay, at the northern 
end of which is St. Jean D'Acre, the ancient 
Ptolemais. 

We dropped our anchor a few miles from this lat- 
ter city on the evening of the 27th, and some boats, 
with parties, were despatched to the shore. I have 
seen no place exhibit so strikingly the ruthless and de- 
structive character of war as did this city at the time 
of our visit. It was at this place that Mohammed Ali 
first began to put in execution his ambitious designs 
upon Syria. Under pretence of assisting the Sultan 
in putting down a refractory Pasha, he brought his 
army and navy against the place ; but met what 
Bonaparte had here met before him, a fierce and 
determined resistance. It was subjected to a long 
bombardment, and at length, on the last of May, 
1832, was taken by assault, when his soldiers are 
said to have been guilty of the greatest excesses. 

The city is built upon a point of land running 
into the sea, and is surrounded by strong walls ; 
those on the land side being assisted by ditches and 
by other lines of defence. 

Scarcely a house was any where to be seen that 
had not suffered from the shot. "We were particu- 
larly struck with a very high wall, the remains of 
some important edifice, that was completely riddled^ 



310 



SYRIA. 



and now stood between us and the setting sun 5 
which was pouring a stream of light through every 
crevice, and making the ruin look still more deso- 
late. We made the circuit of the walls, and walked 
through the city, but did not see more than thirty 
inhabitants in the whole place. 

Leaving our anchorage early the next morning, 
we glided up towards Tyre, which lies about thirty 
miles distant from St. Jean D'Acre, being separated 
from it by a strip of low but sufiicienly fertile land, 
beyond which the mountains of Samaria commence. 
Our visit to this country had put our Bibles in more 
than usual requisition; and I had been pointing out 
to some friends the prophecies concerning Tyre, 
and comparing these with the accounts given by 
travellers of the utter desolation of the place, had 
endeavored to strengthen the argument for the Scrip- 
tures. The spot is spoken of by Shaw as utterly 
abandoned, except " by a few poor wretches, harbor- 
ing themselves in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly 
upon fishing, who seem to be preserved in this place 
by Divine Providence, as a visible argument how 
God hath fulfilled his word concerning Tyre." 
Yolney speaks of it as reduced to a miserable vil- 
lage, consisting of "fifty or sixty wretched huts, 
ready to crumble into ruins and Joliffe, a more 
recent traveller, says, that " some miserable cabins, 
ranged in irregular lines, dignified with the name 
of streets, and a few buildings of a rather better 



TYRE. 



311 



description, occupied by the officers of government, 
compose nearly the whole of the town." 

Approaching it with these impressions, I was sur- 
prised to see a walled town of tolerable dimensions, 
and with houses no worse looking than is ordinary 
in these countries, above which, in answer to our en- 
sign, were waving the flags of most of the European 
nations, together with our own star-spangled banner. 
The ship was hove to, and we were thus enabled to 
make a hasty visit to the place. Our boats passed 
some ruins, probably remains of the times of the 
Crusaders, which help to guard the harbor from the 
wind and the sands. This looks as if it had once 
been spacious, but it was now so choked up with 
ruins of various kinds and with sand, as scarcely 
to admit even our boats. 

Our consul, accompanied by some of the represen- 
tatives of other nations, met us at the landing, and 
conducted us to his house, where we were welcomed 
with the usual forms of eastern hospitality. The 
present population of Tyre, or Tsour as it is called 
by the natives, I should judge to be about 3,000 per- 
sons ; it occupies about half of the ancient island, 
which since the time of Alexander has been a penin- 
sula. It is surrounded by a wall of no great strength, 
nor at present of any great utility, as the sands on 
the eastern side, after covering over the isthmus to a 
considerable depth, have reached the city and have 
been filled up nearly to the height of its battlements. 
The sand is the only enemy, therefore, from which the 



312 



SYRIA. 



fortifications are protecting them, for any other would 
only have to walk up this inclined plane and let 
themselves down into the city. 

In a corner of the wall, about the centre of the 
island, they showed us a large ruin, probably of a 
church belonging to the times of the Crusaders, who 
had possession of the place from the year 1124 to 
1289. Near these ruins were some very large 
columns of Egyptian granite, which looked as if 
they might have been taken from some of the ancient 
temples. 

I passed out of the gate, and made the circuit of 
the peninsula. The shore on the southern side is 
formed of masses of bare rock, much eaten by the waves, 
and in some places undermined. The foundations 
of buildings are to be traced all over the ground, and 
also extending out some distance into the sea. The 
isthmus has become very wide, and now presents 
nothing but hills of loose sand, driven about by every 
wind, and destined perhaps to cover the entire pe- 
ninsula. The shore opposite, for an extent of miles, 
is now also nothing but a bed of sand, amid which, 
any traces of the ancient city that may have been 
left by Alexander, have entirely disappeared. It 
was of this old city, of sixteen miles in circumference, 
and whose walls were 120 feet in height, that the 
prophecy was uttered : " I will make thee a terror and 
thou shalt be no more ; though thou be sought for, 
yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord 
God. All they that feared thee among the people 



SIDON. 



313 



shall be astonished at thee ; thou shalt be a terror, 
and never shalt thou be any more;" and in vain 
amid that plain of yellow drifting sand should 
we seek for any memorial of it, or expect to see it 
rise again. Of this great mistress of the sea, the 
mother of many colonies, some, as for instance 
Carthage, of prodigious wealth ; of the city that dis- 
tributed crowns, " whose merchants were princes, 
and whose traffickers were the honorable of the 
earth," nought now remains, and its site would pro- 
bably be unknown but for this island and the village 
that stands here, as if in mockery of the greatness of 
ancient Tyre. " Is this your joyous city, whose 
antiquity is of ancient days ?" 

After walking about a short time among the dull 
streets, we were glad to escape and get back to the 
ship. The commerce of Tyre now consists of to- 
bacco, charcoal, and fagots; — what a contrast to 
former times ! 

A gentle breeze wafted us on towards Sidon, 
which being only fifteen miles distant, was soon 
distinctly in view ; the bold and towering chain of 
Mount Lebanon forming a striking background to 
the picture. This mountain commences just above 
Tyre, and the greatness of that city in ancient times, 
was probably owing, in some measure, to the outlet 
afforded between the southern end of Lebanon and 
the mountains of Samaria, to the trade from the great 
plain of Damascus and the cities east of it. Sidon, 
called by the natives Seyd^ is also a walled town, 

27 



314 



SYRIA. 



and is larger than Tyre, containing a population of 
about 8 j 000 persons ; but its harbor is most wretched, 
and our boats were near being swamped in endea- 
voring to get in. A boat from the shore hastened 
out to assist us, as soon as they found we desired to 
land; and placing itself before the Commodore's 
barge, guided us along the shallow and tortuous 
channel, alongside of which a heavy surf was rolling 
and breaking, and covering the water with foam. 

After all we were poorly rewarded for our pains, 
unless it may be something to say that we have been 
at Sidon ; for it is a poor miserable place. We de- 
sired, on entering the city, to be taken to whatever 
objects there might be of interest ; and they immedi- 
ately started off with us for " the gardens the con- 
course gathering fresh numbers as we advanced. 
So we proceeded out of the town, and up a hill, and 
then down ; and there were the gardens, naked earth 
planted with mulberry trees and vegetables ; a spot 

that would have delighted B , our steward, had 

he been with us, but was not exactly to our present 
taste. I ought to do the place justice, however; for 
it appeared to be extremely fertile, and as far as our 
eye could reach down the side of the eminence, 
there was the deepest verdure, and a refreshing luxu- 
riance of foliage. We returned to the town as soon 
as possible, as the sun was getting low, and walked 
around and through it, but without finding a single 
object worthy of note. The houses are generally 
low and mean looking, and it appears to be a place 



LADY HESTER STANHOPE. 



315 



of few manufactures, and of little trade. Its rich and 
beautiful back country, however, gives it a decided 
preference over Tsour ; and its population. I thought, 
looked as if they might be more comfortable. "We 
have a consular agent here, also, whose kind offers 
of hospitality the shortness of our time compelled 
us to decline. On returning to the ship we filled 
away and stood for the city of Beirout, which lies 
about twenty miles to the northward of Sidon. 
. It had been our intention to call upon the cele- 
brated Lady Hester Stanhope, who we were informed 
was living at Manlius, about four miles back of 
Sidon ; but learning that she had changed her resi- 
dence to D'joun, three miles further in the interior, 
we were forced by the lateness of the hour to relin- 
quish our purpose. We met, however, at the con- 
sul's, a person who had been connected with her 
household, and the Commodore requested him to in- 
form her ladyship that Ave had landed with the wish 
to pay our respects to her, but had been prevented 
by the distance and want of time. Soon after our 
arrival at Beirout we received a very handsome and 
polite invitation to make her a visit ; and as I find 
that she has excited considerable interest in our coun- 
try, I will give the letter as the best mode of present- 
ing her to the reader. 

To the American Admiral, Officers, and Ladies, who did me the 
honor to inquire after me. 

D'joun, 31st Aug., 1834. 
You all ought to know how much I love and respect the American 
nation. If the individuals did not command by their merit the§6 



316 



SYRIA. 



sentiments, I must naturally inherit them from my grandfather. [*] 
I should be too happy to invite to D'joun the whole of the party ; but 
my premises will not admit of their being comfortable. My house 
is in a dilapidated state. My thoughts, as well as my finances, for 
these last three years, have been wholly dedicated to one object- 
that of the relief of the unhappy persons, which the situation of the 
country increases every day. The body of the house at this moment 
can only contain me, very ill lodged ; and all I have at my disposals 
is two pretty good rooms in a court, or rather a small garden, dedi- 
cated to strangers alone, that might lodge pretty comfortably, the 
Admiral and three other gentlemen. I could not well propose it to 
ladies, being a place which, from its public situation, I never fre- 
quent. But should the Admiral's lady and her daughters wish to see 
something of the surrounding country, I offer them Manlius, where? 
however, there is only one room furnished. The house is only in- 
habited by an old woman and a servant ; but by bringing their tra- 
velling beds and their cook, they might be more comfortable than in 
any other house in the neighborhood. I can also furnish them with 
a very civil old man, known to Mr. Guys, called Lewis Marson, 
who can talk French, and who is very capable of attending to all 
their little wants. 

I send Mr. Bertrand with this letter, that he may further explain 
about the houses, or answer any other questions relative to them 5 
and to bring me your decision upon the subject. 

I very cordially salute you all. 




Accordingly, after our return from Damascus, a party- 
was formed and spent four or five hours with her at 
her residence at D'joun. The house is tolerably capa- 
cious, and is situated inalarge garden, laid out after the 
English style, but the premises are somewhat out of re- 
pair. I fear she finds ungrateful subjects among the 

[* The Earl of Chatham.— Author.] 



VISIT TO LADY HESTER STANHOPE. 317 

natives whom she has patronized, and among whom 
she has spent a large part of her fortune. A few 
years since she sent for our excellent consul at 
Beirout, Mr. Chassaud, a gentleman of great integ- 
rity of character and of business tact, and entreated 
him to save her from the rapacity of the people 
around her, who, by exorbitant demands, and by 
various kinds of roguery, were rapidly reducing her 
finances. He went and saved her fortune from a 
complete wreck, and I believe, has now a high place 
in her confidence. 

She is a very extraordinary woman. Her person 
is tall and commanding, and is shown by her cos- 
tume, the Turkish trowsers and vest and turban, to 
the best advantage ; she is still handsome, and ap- 
pears to take pleasure in showing her arm, which is 
remarkably well turned and beautiful. Coffee, pipes, 
&c. were brought in, and while she encircled herself 
with the aromatic fumes, she conversed on various 
topics — politics, literature, manners, and religion. 
She appeared to have a good knowledge of our 
country, and the intelligence she displayed about the 
politics of Europe was extraordinary for a person 
shut out as she is from society, and seldom getting 
even a newspaper. On most subjects she showed 
excellent sense, and a strength of judgment seldom 
witnessed in either of the sexes ; but when religion 
was broached she became instantly changed, and 
was as wild as a maniac, both in language and to 
some degree also in manner. She believes in magic 

27* 



318 



SYRIA. 



and astrology, and also that the Messiah will shortly 
appear, and has in her stables a horse, with a natural 
sinking or indentation in the back like a saddle, on 
which she says he is to ascend up into heaven. She 
formerly allowed visitors to see this animal, but has 
for some years kept it more secluded ; and though 
the party on this occasion threw out hints as far as 
politeness would allow them, they were not success- 
ful. 

She was, it is said, a great favorite with her uncle 
William Pitt, for whose society the acute and mascu- 
line character of her mind well qualified her. Soon 
after his death she suddenly resolved upon with- 
drawing to this country, and sailed in a short time, 
taking a large part of her fortune with her in the 
vessel. She was wrecked near the island of Rhodes, 
and her treasures were lost ; but she was not to be 
driven from her purpose ; she returned immediately 
to England, gathered together some more funds, and 
again set sail for the east, where she has ever since 
resided. At first she led a somewhat wandering 
life ; and at one time had unbounded influence over 
the Arabs of the desert ; but for some years she has 
been residing at Manlius and D'joun ; and with the 
diminution of her funds has been also a decrease of 
her power. I understand that lately, even her life 
has sometimes been in danger. 

It is probable that her mind, originally strong 
though given to eccentric flights, in these wild re- 
treats where she has been shut out from intelligent 
society, has turned and preyed upon itself, and that 



BEIROUT. 



319 



a species of derangement has been the consequence. 
With her commanding form, her intelligent and 
somewhat masculine face, her fanciful costume, and 
the bright unearthly sparkling of her eye, she would 
make a fine subject for a picture of an ancient Sibyl. 

On the 29th we dropped our anchor at Beirout, 
not opposite to the city, but in a large bay some 
miles to the [northward, [where were afforded con- 
veniences for procuring water, of which our ship 
was in need. Opposite to our anchorage are some 
rocks at the foot of Lebanon, with a bold perpendi- 
cular front, on which are cut some inscriptions in 
ancient characters, probably Phoenician ; and near 
this is a cave, said to be the one where St. George of 
merry England met and killed the dragon. The 
fancy of the reader is fired at the mention of this ; 
and he is now most truly in the region of poetry ; 
for more poetical objects than this mountain of Le- 
banon, with its wild glens, its rich valleys, its preci- 
pices, and even its inhabitants also, are very seldom 
to be seen. 

Beirout is situated on the outer edge of a strip of 
comparatively flat land about four miles across, 
which commences at this place, and goes tapering off 
to the southward, until it terminates somewhere not 
far from Sidon. A large part of this plain, and every 
accessible spot on the mountain, is under cultiva- 
tion ; and as Beirout is also at present the seaport of 
Damascus, it is a city of some consequence, and, for 
this country, of considerable trade. It contains about 



320 



SYRIA. 



eight thousand inhabitants, and on the land side is 
walled ; the harbor will admit only small vessels, but 
a seventy-four may find safe anchorage in the road- 
stead, as near almost to the shore as it may choose 
to come. The country produces great quantities of 
silk which is worked up in the city ; and here, par- 
ticularly, are manufactured the fanciful variegated 
scarfs used all over this region for sashes, and some- 
times for turbans. 

In addition to the pleasures we received in the 
family of our excellent consul, Mr. Chassaud, another 
gratification awaited us here, in the society of three 
of our countrymen, and their ladies, the Rev. Messrs. 
Bird, Smith, and Whiting, missionaries, who have 
been several years in the east, and during the last 
five or six at Beirout. They speak the languages of 
the natives with great fluency ; and are men of intel- 
ligence and talents sufficient to give them a high 
standing in any society, no matter where. They 
came on board immediately to welcome us, and 
readily proffered such hospitality as their circum- 
stances would allow ; their residence at that time 
being on the mountain, for the sake of the superior 
salubrity of its atmosphere in summer. Strangers 
residing below in the hot season are subject to fevers, 
and in the summer following that of our visit, they 
had to lament the death of Dr. Dodge, a physician 
connected with this mission and that at Jerusalem. 
They have schools in the villages of the mountains, 
and in Beirout ; and at the time of our visit, were 



CHARACTERISTIC OF PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 321 

making arrangements for a printing press which has 
since arrived, and with which they are commencing 
operations. 

It must strike every one, even those opposed to 
missions, as a pleasing circumstance, that in all such 
establishments belonging to our country, the commu- 
nication of knowledge, not only in religious matters, 
but on all topics, is one of the earliest and is ever 
a constant object. Religion that comes thus asso- 
ciated cannot wish to hood-wink or lead the people 
blindfolded. It enlarges the mind, it teaches the 
people to think, and gives them useful objects of his- 
tory and science to think about ; it strengthens the 
judgment ; and to this judgment, thus strengthened 
and thus rendered acute, it now appeals and asks for 
admission to the heart. No man need be afraid of a 
religion that comes in such companionship. It gives 
us the very best proof possible that it considers itself 
based on reason, and that it will bear the test of 
scrutiny from enlightened and intelligent minds — 
which scrutiny it ever invites. There is no jargon 
of the schools here, no throwing of dust into men's 
eyes, no trying to blunt the intellect that nonsense may 
be forced upon it. The missionaries come with geo- 
graphies, and arithmetics, and apparatus for easy and 
simple lectures, and compendious histories ; or where 
such books are not to be had in the language, they 
go to work immediately and translate them; and 
they circulate them ; and they gather the children 
from the streets, and seek for the adults, and they 



322 



SYRIA. 



teach them knowledge^ not religious knowledge only 
but knowledge of all kinds. Their object, it is 
granted, is to introduce religion into the heart, their 
religion, if the reader may choose to like the phrase ; 
but then it comes preceded by and associated with 
knowledge ; it loves the light ; light is created, dif- 
fused, and in this light it comes, and in it addresses 
and appeals to us ; and let him who opposes these 
efforts, look and see if he does not oppose them be- 
cause he himself loves darkness rather than light, 
and that because his own deeds are evil. 

I visited a missionary house at Malta, belonging 
to the English [Church ?] Missionary Society, but 
under the care of some gentlemen from Switzerland. 
I found them striking off maps for an atlas in modern 
Greek, and making Arabic globes to be sent to 
Egypt, where, if I mistake not, it will astonish the na- 
tives when they are told that the world is round, and 
that they have been such prodigious travellers on its 
surface, when they were thinking themselves all the 
while sitting still. The shelves of this house were 
also filled with a great variety of books, translations 
of the most approved modern works for schools ; and 
these they were scattering around the Mediterranean 
as fast as they were able. And when I went to the 
dwelling house of one of them, (the only one mar- 
ried,) I found his lady in a school with a room full 
of children, many of whom had been common beg- 
gars in the streets, and had been taken in here and 
clothed ; she was teaching them to read and sew, 



SCHOOL AT MALTA. 



323 



and had a small cabinet filled with their work, each 
article with the maker's name — the money for which, 
when sold, was to be delivered to the child itself. 
Though their garments were often " of many colors," 
owing to the strange mixture of patches, yet there 
was not one ragged child, and all were clean, and 
they looked cheerful and happy. 

And all this is only an example of the Protestant 
missionary operations at Syra, and Athens, and Con- 
stantinople, and Smyrna, and since they have got the 
press, at Beirout, and in the islands of the Pacific, 
and in India, and every where, wherever our mis- 
sionaries are to be found. 



324 



CHAPTER XXIL 

Party to Damascus. Ascent of Mount Lebanon. The roads. 
English carriage. Scenery of the mountain. Its inhabitants. 
Maronites. The Druses. Aaleih. Horns worn by the women. 
Princesses of the mountain. Beautiful night scene. Bhamdoon. 
Plain of Coelo-Syria. Anti-Lebanon. Characteristic of Ameri- 
cans. A dilemma. First view of Damascus. The great plain. 
Gardens. The city. " Street that is called Straight." St. Paul. 

About noon on the first of September, a party of 
us might have been seen winding along the streets 
of Beirout, and then starting off in high spirits for 
Damascus. That city is the present capital, and 
residence of the Governor of Syria, and the Com- 
modore had determined, while the ship was taking 
in water, to make it a visit. 

Our company consisted of Commodore Patterson 
and two daughters, nine officers, and about twelve 
attendants and muleteers, and was headed by an 
Armenian gentleman, Mr. Farrah, whom Mr. 
Chassaud had just appointed American agent for 
Damascus. Mr. Farrah was accompanied also by a 
relative of his, so that we numbered altogether 
twenty-six persons ; a large cavalcade for visiting a 
city where, only a year previously, it was extremely 
hazardous for any one to be seen in the Frank dress, 



ASCENT OF MOUNT LEBANON. 325 



so savage and bitter was the hatred of the inha- 
bitants towards all the Gaiours, or Christians. Mr. 
Smith and his lady were also with us, intending to 
accompany us as far as his house on the mountain, 
where we were to stop for the night. 

Our road, on leaving the city, laid across a small 
plot of open ground bordered with trees, and imme- 
diately after this entered a region of gardens and 
vineyards, which appeared to be very productive. 
Among them, on the right, is a substantial stone 
house, recently erected by the missionaries for their 
press and books. It had, in some respects, an 
American look, and was an unexpected and wel- 
come sight. We kept ascending gently for about 
two miles, when we came, at the summit of the 
eminence, to a fine grove of large venerable looking 
pines. The Pasha of Egypt is disposed to cultivate 
this tree for the use of his navy, and not far off has 
planted a little forest, which seems to be in a thriv- 
ing condition. 

This spot commands a fine view of the mountain, 
and plain, and sea, and is the one to which De La 
Martine has given a pathetic interest. About three 
miles beyond it we commenced the ascent of Mount 
Lebanon, at first by a gently inclined plane, which, 
however, did not continue long; soon we came 
to steeper ascents, and then to yet steeper ; and tnen 
commenced a series of experiments in vaulting, fly- 
ing, and tumbling, which lasted quite across the 
mountain, and were sometimes near costing us life 

28 



326 



SYRIA. 



or limb. I believe there was but one person in the 
party who had not at least one fall, many of us 
could count three or four ; and one of the ladies was 
saved from sliding down a precipice only by our 
springing to her help, and holding rider and donkey 
against the side of the bank till they had recovered 
foot-hold. I had thought that in Indiana, a few 
years previously, I had seen the very worst roads in 
the world ; but they are equalled by those over 
Mount Lebanon, that is, if the reader can be made 
to understand clearly a comparison between mud- 
holes and rocks, which I confess I cannot exactly 
do myself. There is no mistake, however, about 
this road, which is certainly the most toilsome and 
dangerous one that I have ever met with. And yet 
it is the great thoroughfare between Damascus and 
its seaport, Beirout, and is every day traversed by 
camels with heavy loads of merchandise. The 
British Consul General for Syria, residing at 
Damascus, a few years ago had a carriage trans- 
ported across this mountain from Beirout. He first 
had it taken to pieces, and then had the body slung 
between two camels ; but the swinging motion, in 
consequence of the roughness of the roads, soon 
put the poor animals on beam ends ; and they said, 
as plainly as camels could say, that they had no 
inclination for such work. He then put the vehicle 
together again, and employed sixty men to pull it 
up and lower it down the precipices, and at last got 
it safe home at Damascus, where now he may go an 



NATIVES OF THE MOUNTAIN. 327 

airing over a plain 500 miles in length. He offered 
the ladies of our party to carry them in it to Pal- 
myra. A ride in an English coach to Palmyra ! it 
would have been something new under the sun, and 
we should all have made that interesting journey, if 
our time would have permitted. But back again 
—we have not arrived at Damascus yet, nor even at 
the summit of Lebanon, and many a weary mile is 
before us. Up, up we went, sometimes almost per- 
pendicularly, wondering, when we could catch a 
breathing spell, at the power and wonderful sure- 
footedness of our animals. After a while the 
scenery around us became truly grand. It is a 
mountain with more poetry than any other that I 
have ever seen. Grander I have met with, and richer, 
and more beautiful; but I have seen none that contains 
so much of all of these combined. The reader is per- 
haps aware that it is inhabited by a race of people 
that from time immemorial have kept themselves 
free and unsubdued ; they form an enigma and a 
wonder in this land of sloth and imbecility. Hardy, 
industrious, and healthful, they have spread over the 
mountain till it is teeming with inhabitants, and have 
been compelled, wherever, by terrace or otherwise, 
it can be cultivated, to erect their dwellings, and 
break up or make a soil. They retain also their 
peculiar institutions ; and this is the only place in 
all Turkey where Christians are allowed for their 
churches the use of bells. 

The inhabitants of Mount Lebanon branch off 



328 



SYRIA. 



into three religions : Mahomedans, Druses, and Marc- 
nite Christians. The last of these had their origin in 
the seventh century, and take their name from Maro 3 
their first bishop, who, at this time, came from the 
banks of the Orontes and taught here the heretical 
doctrines of the Monothelites, which he had adopted. 
In the year 1182 they gave up these doctrines, and 
were united to the Romish church ; at least they have 
ever since acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope, 
but as they never allow him to interfere with their 
doctrines or forms of worship, and have their own 
distinct class of ecclesiastical rulers, their subjection 
to the Roman Catholic jurisdiction is little better 
than nominal. They have a patriarch whom they 
elect themselves, and who takes uniformly the name 
of Peter ; but his appointment, to be valid, must be 
confirmed by the Pope. Their number at present 
is about 120,000. 

The Druses, who amount to about 70,000, are a 
strange and mysterious people. Their religion 
seems to be a compound of Paganism, Mahomedan- 
ism, and Christianity ; but it is kept a profound 
secret, and we have few means of forming a judg- 
ment respecting it. They are divided into two 
classes, the Djakils, or ignorant, about 60,000 in 
number, and the Aakils, or intelligent, who amount 
to about 10,000; the latter alone are acquainted 
with the mysteries of their religion ; but from the 
vague answers that are given to all queries by 
Strangers respecting it, I am inclined to think that it 



VILLAGE OF AALE1H. 



329 



is itself vague and undefined, and that except a few 
leading principles, they themselves scarcely know 
what they believe. 

The Mahomedan population, in some parts of Le- 
banon, is very numerous. 

On our right, as we ascended the mountain, was 
a large valley, commencing in the elevated parts of the 
range, and spreading, as it descended, till it formed a 
theatre among the hills of gigantic proportions. 
From the highest part to the lowest, it was all under 
cultivation, and dotted with cottages ; while in va- 
rious parts cascades were seen streaming from the 
rocks, and contrasting finely with the rich verdure 
with which the whole seemed to be carpeted, and 
over which the declining sun was now pouring a 
flood of mellowed light. 

We turned, by and by, around the head of this 
valley, and delighted with the views, but exhausted 
by the constant muscular effort to keep in our sad- 
dles, we were glad to find ourselves at the door of 
Mr. Bird ? s house in the village of Aaleih. In ap- 
proaching the village, the young beaux of our party 
had straightened themselves in their saddles, and 
made their donkeys hold up the head and look 
smart, in hopes perhaps of making a conquest 
among the princesses of the mountain, some of 
whom were residing in Aaleih ; but as we passed 
the houses, nothing but old looking heads, and these 
with great horns stuck on them, were thrust out 
towards us, presenting some of the least attractive, 

28* 



330 



SYRIA. 



and most singular specimens of woman-kind that 
we had met with. This is no joke of mine ; 
for it is actually the fashion in this region for the 
ladies to stick to their heads a horn very much in 
size and shape like a speaking-trumpet, if deprived 
of its mouth-piece. They are generally of embossed 
silver, and are handed down from mother to child 
through many generations ; some are of paste-board 
covered with gold or silver paper, and some of the 
more costly ones which we saw, in addition to being 
of pure silver, were set with precious stones. They 
are worn generally on the top of the head, project- 
ing a little in front ; but are sometimes attached to the 
side directly over the temple, according as the fancy 
may take the belle or her ladyship ; they are worn 
not only by day, but also during the night. A white 
muslin shawl is usually cast over the horn, and tied 
with a string at its lower part, and is thus made to 
shade the face ; their dress in other respects has 
nothing peculiar. We priced some of these singular 
ornaments, and found them valued at about fifteen 
dollars. 

The Druse men have squat figures and countenan- 
ces, though not very intelligent, yet of rather pleasing 
expression. They wear a dress considerably like that 
of the Turks, and in addition, a loose coat, marked 
with broad white and black stripes running verti- 
cally ; this coat, I believe, is universal among them, 
and is one of the characteristics of a Druse. We 



PRINCESSES OF THE MOUNTAIN. 331 

met them in great numbers along the road, and took 
pleasure in marking their habits, so different from 
the lazy, sluggish movements of the Turks. 

Mrs. Bird had been good enough to prepare an 
excellent meal for us, to which we sat down with 
keen appetites ; after which some of us went, in 
company with Mrs. B. and Mrs. Whiting, to call 
upon the princesses, the daughters of the late Emir 
of this district, over which, since his decease, one of 
them had been exercising the authority of chief. 

There was a house full of females and children, 
and we could not help admiring the sprightly, intel- 
ligent faces, and the graceful carriage of all, both 
old and young. Their costume was also very be- 
coming. One of the lads, about eleven years of age, 
with a keen resolute eye, wore a handjar* of beauti- 
ful workmanship in his belt, and had the bearing 
of a little king. The young folks came afterwards 
to visit the ship, with a letter from Mr. Bird ; but 
unfortunately did not reach her till she was under 
way, and they could not be admitted on board. 

Again came our ponies, (alias donkeys, at least 
most of them,) and again came the tug of this moun- 
tain travelling, which soon was rendered doubly 
unpleasant by a moonless night. We could see 
nothing of the way, and had no resource except 
quietly to follow Mr. Smith, our guide, and resign 
ourselves to the sure-footed habits of our animals. 

* A Turkish weapon, like a broad dagger, but usually about a, 
foot in length. 



332 



SYRIA. 



We travelled on in this way for about an hour after 
dark, when suddenly, and as if by a kind of magic, a 
scene opened upon us that produced a general ex- 
clamation of delight. Mr. Smith had selected a safe 
spot for the exhibition, and without giving us warn- 
ing, had led us to the edge of an immense valley, 
which spread around in the form of a great amphi- 
theatre, and was covered with villages and farm- 
houses from top to bottom. The houses had lights 
in them, and all at once, from utter darkness, the 
whole region, a space of some miles in diameter, 
appeared as if sprinkled over with stars ; it seemed 
as if we had been suddenly carried upward, and 
had been placed in mid-heaven, amid the constella- 
tions and the bright effulgence of the Milky Way. 

But we were yet upon our earth, and in a very 
rough portion of it ; and as we went on, climbing 
up and slipping down, we began to long for our own 
beacon light. It appeared at length on the opposite 
side of a deep valley, around which we had to wind ; 
but at length, about ten o'clock, we were safely 
deposited in Mr. Smith's hospitable dwelling at 
Bhamdoon. His house accommodated the Commo- 
dore and family, while the rest of us were distri- 
buted among his neighbors, where we found pretty 
comfortable beds. 

The rising sun, next morning, found us on our 
way, and in addition to our baggage mules, another 
in our company, with a couple of tents provided by 
Mr. Smith, an accommodation which we found of the 



PLAIN OF COELOSYRIA. 



333 



most essential service during the journey. Mount 
Lebanon, at the highest peak, which was not far 
north of our road, attains an elevation of 10,000 
feet ; but at our place of crossing was not quite so 
high. Opposite to Balbec its summit retains the 
snow, even in exposed situations, all the year. 

We reached the highest point of our road at a 
place about five miles east of Bhamdoon ; and after 
descending into some deep glens, and encountering 
again a frightful rocky ascent, we stopped for breakfast 
at 1 o'clock, on the eastern slope of the range. The plain 
of Coelo-Syria, apparently about eight miles across, 
but in reality of nearly twice that width, was spread 
out below us; and on the opposite side of it ascended the 
more gentle and less formidable looking mountain 
of Anti-Lebanon. At a peak to the southward of 
us this latter range was, however, also covered with 
snow. Numerous streams dash down the sides of 
both mountains, clothing them with perpetual green, 
and then discharge their waters into the river Litane, 
the ancient Leontes, which, after winding through 
the whole length of this plain, is finally lost in the 
sea not far from Sidon. 

The plain of Coelo-Syria is generally of the 
breadth that I have mentioned, and is about 100 
miles in length, being bounded in the whole extent 
by the parallel ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. 
It has a rich, soil, and might be made extremely pro- 
ductive ; but only a small portion of it is at present 
under cultivation. Our meal was eaten by the side 



334 



SYRIA. 



of a brook, beneath some fig trees ; and when it had 
been succeeded by a short season of repose, we 
finished our descent, and entered on the monotonous 
and fiery plain. All day we dragged ourselves 
across, scorched by a fierce sun, and parched with 
thirst, and finding little relief in the sight of the 
snowy peaks on either side. We came about two 
o'clock to a khan, and soon after to the river, which 
we crossed on a bridge, though at this season it can 
be forded. Here we met a long string of camels 
from Damascus, and soon after we witnessed a natu- 
ral phenomenon, of which we afterwards saw seve- 
ral instances on the great Assyrian plain, — columns 
of sand raised high in the air, and passing along the 
ground, in their shape bearing a great resemblance to 
that of a water-spout, and doubtless produced by a 
similar cause. 

Our course was not straight across the plain, but in- 
clining to the southward. About five o'clock we reach- 
ed a village near the foot of Anti-Lebanon, and while 
we stopped for water, our muleteers began very delibe- 
rately to unload the animals, concluding to stop there 
for the night. They were astonished when told that the 
day's journey was not yet finished, and then remon- 
strated, and then got angry, but to no purpose ; and 
I believe they thought us a very singular and 
uncivilized set of beings. I do not know that 
any traveller has ever yet spoken of the difference 
between foreign countries and our own with respect 
to energy and rapidity of movement. With us 2 



CHARACTERISTIC OF AMERICANS. 335 

" time" literally " is money f and as we have abun- 
dant opportunities of making the most of it, we get 
a sharpness of look, and a quickness of motion, 
which is seen no where else, and has at length be- 
come a characteristic of the nation. 

The contrast is striking every where, but most of 
all along the Mediterranean. A Spanish lad for 
whom I lately got an excellent situation with a 
mechanic in one of our cities, was near losing it 
because " he did not move fast ;' J although in his 
own country he would have been considered smart 
enough. I pointed out to him the difference, and 
mentioned the objection, and he immediately im- 
proved. There is, in most of these countries, a 
heaviness of look, and slowness of motion, in strong 
contrast with the bustling, driving character of people 
in our cities ; but which is easily accounted for by 
the fact, that there are fewer stimulants to enterprise 
and activity. The journey from Beirout to Da- 
mascus, I believe, usually occupies between three 
and four days ; although there were ladies in our 
company, we made it in two ; and let me here also 
remark, en passa?it, that as far as endurance of hard- 
ships and of fatigue is concerned, I believe ladies 
are quite as good travellers as men ; and as far as 
my own observation has gone, they are better. 

Our determination this evening to proceed, ho we ver, 
soon brought us into an embarrassment. We entered 
the defiles of Anti-Lebanon, and in the course of a 
few hours found ourselves shut up in them, and 



336 



SYRIA. 



night settling around us, without knowing where to 
stop ; and our Armenian friend, driven beyond his 
usual land-marks, could now give us no assistance* 
Tents we had, thanks to the kindness of Mr. Smith/ 
and also provisions ; but we had to find a stopping- 
place where our beasts could get water; and we 
passed on, mile after mile, without any indications 
of stream or fountain. This mountain is very dif- 
ferent from Lebanon. Though in some places very 
high, it is generally much lower, and consists of 
rounded eminences, with here and there deep ravines 
or glens between. It is aJso in most places quite 
deserted. Along this route we passed but one village 
in the whole way across the mountain, and this was a 
miserable looking one ; nor was there a single house 
in the whole intermediate country. 

We reached a spot at length where the defile was 
succeeded by a narrow plain, and our company, scat- 
tering themselves over the ground in search of water, 
a glad shout, at length, from some of the party, in- 
formed us that they had found a spring. The water 
came gushing out from the foot of a bluff of rocks, 
and beneath them we pitched our tents and lighted 
our fires. Some of us then went to filling the pots 
for cooking, and some were sent to grope in the dark 
after dry thistles for fuel ; while others seated them- 
selves on the rocks and looked up at the stars, and 
talked sentiment. 

It was a raw cold night ; and we were off long 
before day, traversing a region as dreary and deso- 



APPROACH TO DAMASCUS. 337 

late as can b£ imagined. About ten o'clock we came 
to the village just noticed ; and then again pursued 
our course over hill and along dale, with not even 
a butterfly or grasshopper to cheer our course. A 
large fountain by and by, and a little herbage near 
it, offered some variety ; and not long after this we 
caught sight of an oasis some miles on our left — a 
little valley of the most intense green, with trees of 
majestic form, mingled with the tapering poplar and 
cypress, all imbedded among hills of a red and yel- 
low color, and of unbroken sterility. 

The ground before us now began to ascend, 
stretching off into elevated plains ; and as we ad- 
vanced, a traveller was now and then met, or seen 
at a distance crossing the country. These signs mul- 
tiplying, it was evident that we were approaching 
Damascus. We gained, at length, the sammit of 
a long sloping plain terminated by a bluff; — and 
there— there was the city. 

And it was a scene strikingly oriental and truly 
magnificent. We had hit upon the very best way by 
which Damascus can be approached, for its gardens, 
though far down, were right under our feet, A sea 
of intense verdure breaking all at once upon the arid 
desert ; a great city bursting suddenly from amid the 
completest solitude ; and beyond it a plain stretching 
off— far off— till the eye could follow it no longer ; — 
this was what we saw as we stood upon those 
heights. I believe the plain of Damascus reaches 
to the Euphrates, and proceeds on with that river ; 

29 



338 



SYRIA, 



and if so, it must be 500 miles or more m length, 
and as far as we could see, it is a smooth level, with- 
out hillock or break of any kind. On the eastward^ 
at a great distance, and forming a dim speck on the 
horizon, were some inequalities like mountains ; but 
to the southward the plain was as smooth as the 
ocean in a calm, and apparently as boundless. 

The peculiar excellence of the spot where Da- 
mascus is situated is owing to the Barraday, a rapid 
stream, which here breaks out from the mountain 
ravines ; and by numerous artificial as well as natu- 
ral channels, is made to spread over the plain ; it 
waters the whole extent of the gardens, and when 
this is done, the little of it that is left proceeds on 
southwardly through the plain, but amid the arid 
sands it soon dwindles away and disappears. The 
stretch of gardens is about nine miles in dia- 
meter, and, except the space occupied by the city, 
is one unbroken extent of the deepest verdure. It is 
planted with all kinds of trees; mostly, however, such 
as produce fruit, among which the apricot still holds 
the ascendency; pomegranate, orange, lemon, and 
fig trees also abound, and rising over these are other 
trees of huge proportions, intermingled with the 
poplar and sometimes the willow. Water is carried 
into every garden ; and as we rode on towards the 
city, it was our almost constant companion, dash- 
ing along by our side or through arched ways 
under the road, and sending off branches in every 
direction. It is here quite a rapid stream. The 



GARDENS OF DAMASCUS. 



339 



gardens are enclosed by brick or earthen walls ; and 
beside the fruit trees are planted thickly with vege- 
tables and with flowering shrubs. In the centre of 
this wide stretch of verdure, which, as we gazed upon 
it from the hills, seemed like an earthly paradise, 
is the city itself. Its population is estimated at 
100,000 ; but I should judge it to be greater than 
this. 

It presents a great mass of houses, but being si- 
tuated on the level plain, and having no points of 
elevation and but few prominent edifices, it would 
not strike us greatly, if it were not mixed up with so 
much natural beauty. The great mosque, formerly 
the church of St. John, towers considerably above 
the rest of the edifices ; and so does the dark mas- 
sive castle, or citadel, and so also do a few domes and 
several minarets ; but they are not sufficient to give 
it character. But with the scenery around, the gar- 
dens, the adjoining range of Anti-Lebanon, rising in 
many a peak and presenting bold precipices, and 
with the great plain, so vast that the imagination is 
lost in attempting to follow it, El Sham, as by this 
time we had learned from the Arabs to call Damas- 
cus, is a place of exquisite beauty. One part of it, 
which struck us as we viewed it from our elevated 
position, will interest the Christian. It is a narrow 
prolongation of the city at the southern end, about 
three quarters of a mile in length. Commencing in 
the body of the city and extending along through the 
whole length of this portion, is " the street which is 



340 



SYRIA. 



called Straight," still remarkable for its length 
and direct course, and still, I was informed, go- 
ing by its ancient name. It added greatly to the 
interest with which we contemplated these remark- 
able and beautiful scenes, to think that here Paul 
first looked on nature with the eyes of a Christian, 
and amid this scenery found subjects to animate him 
in his new and joyful aspirations, and to strengthen 
him in his high resolves. Here, in Damascus, " he 
first preached Christ, that he is the Son of God." 



34L 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Late fanaticism of the people of Damascus. Change. Mr. Far- 
rah's house. Agreeable disappointment. Costume of the natives. 
The Cobcob. Mr. Farran, the English Consul General. Visit 
to the palaces. Palaces of Abdallah Bey, &c. Official visit to 
the Governor, Sheriff Pasha. Handsome reception. Promises 
of the Pasha with respect to Americans in Syria. Mr. Farran's 
beautiful country residence. Bazaars. Damascus blades — not 
to be had. Departure from the city. Night at Mr. Farran's. 

Having rested by a stream at the edge of the 
gardens till our straggling party had all come up, 
we passed on, and entering one of the city gates, 
were soon in a labyrinth of bazaars and narrow 
streets. Our large cavalcade attracted considerable 
attention as we rode unceremoniously along, our bag- 
gage mules frequently brushing the natives and 
forcing for themselves a wide passage amid the 
crowds. Many looks of dark and angry import were 
turned upon us, but no one offered any molestation ; 
and with the exception of their scowling looks, they 
were sufficiently respectful. It was only about a 
year before this that De La Martine, on approaching 
the city, found it advisable to stop at one of the 
neighboring villages, and change his European for 
the Turkish dress. The iron hand of the Egyptian 

29* 



342 



SYRIA. 



Pasha, wherever it lights, makes itself felt. It is 
now as safe to travel in Egypt as in our own coun- 
try ; and will soon be so in Palestine, and also about 
Damascus, which, until quite lately, was, and indeed 
probably still is, one of the most fanatical cities in 
the world. In this city there has already been a 
surprising change. During our visit we went freely 
among the bazaars, sometimes all in company, and 
sometimes in small parties or singly ; and though 
attracting such crowds that the streets were often 
actually blocked up, and it was difficult for the citi- 
zens to get along, all were respectful ; nor, as far as 
we know, was even an opprobrious epithet ever 
used. 

The Armenian gentleman who had been our com- 
panion in the journey, had offered the hospitality of 
his house, and now led us on through the city for 
nearly a mile, when at length we came to a stand. 
We were in a street, narrow like all the rest, (the 
bazaars excepted,) and alongside of a house that 
seemed to give promise of nothing but poverty. Its 
exterior was rough and coarse ; and the walls bulg- 
ing out here and there, looked as if waiting to tum- 
ble on our heads and crush us, rather than to give 
us shelter. We entered by a low narrow door into 
a passage, also narrow and dark ; and great indeed 
was our 'surprise at the scene which broke upon us 
when we reached its further end. We afterwards 
visited all the celebrated palaces of the city, and 
found the exterior of all of them of a character 



A DWELLING IN DAMASCUS. 



343 



similar to this. On the outside they are coarse and 
wretched loaking buildings, seemingly ready to 
crumble and fall to pieces ; and the appearance of 
poverty is probably intentional in order to save the 
inmates from the exactions of an arbitrary and 
oppressive government. But for this, ample amends 
are made in the interior. 

The edifice into which we were now introduced 
formed a hollow square ; the open space within 
being occupied by a court, about fifty feet by forty, 
all paved with variegated marbles. In the centre of 
this was a square fountain, fourteen or fifteen feet 
on each side, and rising about two feet above the 
pavement. It was filled with gold and silver fishes, 
and was lined all around with vases or pots with 
flowers. At the further end of the court ; the pave- 
ment rose, and here was a recess occupying nearly 
the whole width of the court, and about ten feet in 
depth. It was fronted by a lofty pointed arch, richly 
ornamented with arabesques cut in stone, or painted 
in a great variety of gay colors. The back and 
sides of the recess were .enriched in a similar man- 
ner, every part of them being covered either with 
arabesques or with parallel stripes of gay colors, 
either in horizontal, or in zigzag or waving lines. I 
must except one or two compartments or raised pan- 
nels on each side, with rich borders to them ; the 
pannels were occupied by stanzas of Arabic poe- 
try in large letters, either cut into relief, or done with 



344 



SYRIA. 



paint. At the back of the recess was a broad luxu- 
rious ottoman. 

This lofty and magnificent recess, whose effect, 
apparently unstudied, is yet very striking, meets us 
at once on emerging from the dark passage, and gives 
us our first impression of the building ; but as we 
advance towards it a new candidate for our admira- 
tion is presented on our left. Just before reaching 
the angle of the court which adjoins the recess, we 
come to a door-way, which is ornamented, but has 
no very remarkable pretensions ; but as we approach, 
the fall of water arrests our attention and invites us 
to enter ; and on doing so our eagerness to take posses- 
sion of the lofty cool recess is suddenly checked. This 
room is not very large, its dimensions being alto- 
gether about fifteen feet by twenty-five ; and the light 
is permitted to enter only in sufficient quantity to 
make objects distinct. A short distance within the 
door is a circular marble fountain, from the centre of 
which a few streaks of water ascend up into the air, 
and breaking at the top, fall in a constant shower 
of gems, creating a delightful coolness, and a noise 
just sufficient to lull one to repose. The floor here 
is of tesselated marbles ; on each side are marble 
slabs attached to the wall, supporting China vases and 
other bijouderie of a similar substance. In the 
window is a salver containing sherbet and confec- 
tionary, where any person may help himself when- 
ever his inclinations prompt, the supply being con- 
stant but without parade. About ten feet from the 



A DWELLING IN DAMASCUS. 



345 



door the floor suddenly ascends about eighteen 
inches, and now it is covered with the brilliant and 
soft carpet of Turkey or Persia ; while quite around 
the recess thus formed runs a broad ottoman, yet 
softer and more luxurious than that of the open 
court. The walls of this chamber are quite covered 
with arabesques, in stucco, or painted in various co- 
lors, among which is also interspersed Arabic poetry. 
The ceiling is lofty, and is of wood formed into 
small compartments, usually arabesque patterns, the 
bottom of the pannels being often composed of mir- 
rors. The wood itself is colored so as to resemble 
japanned work of brilliant colors. 

This description will give the reader a general 
idea of these two apartments. I am afraid to venture 
on a more minute description of them, as his mind 
would only be burdened if I should attempt to give 
in detail all the ornaments, the projecting cornice in 
the Saracenic architecture, and the great variety of 
patterns and colors that decked the sides and ceil- 
ing both of the small retired chamber or of the large 
recess. 

The stone walls of the open court were ornament- 
ed all around with patterns, sometimes cut in the 
stone, but usually in paint of brilliant colors, — red, 
blue, white, and yellow, being those chiefly employed. 
Sometimes these were put on in horizontal stripes 
three or four inches wide ; sometimes in waving or 
zigzag lines, and sometimes in interlacing circles ; 
here and there a pannel of fanciful arabesque is in- 



346 



SYRIA. 



troduced. A person is very much struck with the 
exuberance of the eastern fancy in these patterns, 
scarcely any two of them being alike ; they are gene- 
rally in excellent taste. 

The reader will think me describing the palace of 
a prince ; but it was the residence of a private gen- 
tleman — a merchant, I believe ; and I have been so 
minute, because it is not a palace, but one of the 
edifices common among that class of persons. We 
saw more of them ; they are all wretched looking on 
the outside, but magnificent and luxurious within. 

These two chambers form the "parlors" of the 
dwelling. At an angle corresponding to that of the 
small chamber was a room of a plainer character, 
used during our residencejn the house as a dining- 
room. The remainder of the two sides of the court 
was occupied by the sitting room of the females of 
the family, and by entrances to the kitchen and to 
the offices. Against the end of the court which 
faced the large recess, two flights of broad steps 
ascended to the right and left, one to the gentlemen's, 
and the other to the ladies' private apartments. 
They were protected from the weather by a broad 
ornamented projection of the roof. On entering our 
own sleeping apartment, we had before us a passage 
about six feet wide, on the left of which was a plat- 
form of small elevation divided by a projecting par- 
tition into two recesses ; while on the right was a 
similar recess, each of them being about twenty feet 
square ; along the sides were ottomans raised about 



HOSPITALITY OF THE AMERICAN AGENT. 347 

six inches from the floor, and these being at night 
provided with covering, formed our beds. The sides 
of this room were also ornamented with arabesques, 
and with a great variety of Arabic poetry. 

Damascus is by far the most oriental city that I 
have seen, and this may serve as a specimen of the 
dwellings of the wealthier class. 

The ladies of Mr. Farrah's family came forward 
to welcome those of our party ; we were led to our 
various rooms and told that they were ours ; and 
then the family retired ; nor through the whole of 
our stay, though their hospitality was unremitting, was 
there any parade or ostentation of service. Our wants 
were all supplied, and where this was possible, antici- 
pated ; abundant tables were spread, some gentlemen 
of the family generally taking their seats at them, but 
seldom eating, giving quiet attention to our wants, and 
as quiet orders to the servants ; but no one pressed us 
to eat or to drink, or spoke of the dishes, or obtruded 
any thing on our notice ; nor did they come them- 
selves except when we expressed a wish for their 
society. The business of the family seemed to go 
on in the usual course, and the only evidence we 
had that our presence was felt, was in the unostenta- 
tious supply of our necessities. This was true hos- 
pitality ; we received the most essential services, but 
without their even seeming to imagine that they were 
conferring an obligation, or making us feel uneasy 
by allowing us to see that we were disturbing them. 

The Moslem inhabitants of Damascus are like 



348 



SYRIA. 



those of Turkey further north both in their dress and 
habits, except that the turban is better adjusted, 
and has a smarter and more dandyish look. So at 
least we thought ; but perhaps we should not have 
noticed this, if we had not been led to expect it from 
a passage in some book. I believe Hope's Anastasius. 
And the ladies of the city, I suppose, would scarcely 
pardon a traveller who should neglect to notice the 
cobcob, any more than an American belle would 
excuse an eastern traveller who, in speaking of her 
costume, would forget to describe the elegant bishops' 
sleeves by which she adds to her arms those beau- 
tiful proportions which stupid nature has forgotten 
to give her. The cobcob is a kind of — what shall I 
call it ? — stilt ? no ; this will not describe it — nor will 
shoe, nor yet patten. It is a combination of the ex- 
cellences of the stilt and patten. The manufacturer 
takes a slip of board, which he cuts to the shape of 
the foot ; and across this nails an embroidered strap, 
through which the foot is to be slipped, and by which 
it adheres ; next he fits to this board near the ends, two 
upright pieces about nine inches in height, narrowed 
above to the width of the delicate foot, but spread 
out to a breadth of eight inches at the lower extremity. 
The whole is now ornamented with mother-of-pearl 
in fanciful patterns, and the cobcob is finished and 
ready for use. The height that I have given for 
them is that of a pair designed for a person of the 
wealthier classes; the height, however, is in propor- 
tion to the rank of the wearer ; and if the lady be of 



THE COBCOB. 



349 



superior grade in society, she disdains to walk with a 
eobcob of less than twelve inches in height ; while 
the vulgar have to be contented with a smaller eleva- 
tion, say of five or six inches. Slipping her feet un- 
der the strap, the Damascus belle now rises into the 
proper dignity of her station, and is ready to receive 
her visitors. Would it not be well for our ladies 
to adopt the cobcobs as an excellent accompaniment 
to the bishops' sleeves? In some of our towns they 
would be of real service, as they would settle ques- 
tions of rank and precedency, by showing us at once 
in which class of society the lady considers herself 
to rank ; whether among the first, second, or third, 
or only the ninth or tenth. For an American ex- 
clusive, we would allow a suitable cobcob of three 
feet in height. 

Joking aside, it was really odd enough to see the 
ladies of Damascus going about their houses with 
this singular kind of slipper. I have described 
exactly the dimensions of a pair which I purchased 
in a street almost entirely devoted to the sale of them, 
and abounding in them of all sizes, from the propor- 
tions here given, down to those for a child, where 
the altitude is not more than a few inches. I saw 
none worn in the streets : they use them in the mar- 
ble courts of their houses, in the kitchen and nurse- 
ry, and in the common household occupations. 

The morning after our arrival, Mrs. Farran, the 

lady of the English consul-general for Syria, did us 

the honor to call, and was good enough to offer to 

30 ' 



350 



SYRIA* 



accompany us in our visits through the city. Mr, 
Farran sent a very kind message, but was unable to 
come himself; they were residing at a country-seat 
at the foot of the mountains, and Mr, F. having the 
day previous to this come to the city on business, 
was attacked with a fever. Damascus, in summer, 
is a very unhealthy place, and is dangerous to Eu- 
ropean constitutions. For the polite attentions of 
Mr. and Mrs. F., which were unceasing during our 
stay, any thing that I could say would be but a fee- 
ble acknowledgment. We had no claims on them, 
not even a letter of introduction ; but their politeness 
was unremitting, and certainly contributed greatly to 
the pleasures of our visit, Mr. Farran,- 1 believe, was 
appointed to this station by his government in conse- 
quence of its wish to open a steamboat communica- 
tion down the Euphrates with India, and by his intel- 
ligence and tact, and the high esteem in which he is 
held by the Pasha of Egypt, has very materially contri- 
buted to the success of that enterprise. Mrs, Farran 
was the first lady that had ever ventured to appear 
here in the European costume, and the ladies of 
our party were the next ; lady Franklin, who had 
visited the place, having, during her visit, adopted 
the national dress. 

Having mounted our ponies, we started, under the 
guidance of our polite friend, to visit the curiosi- 
ties of Damascus j and first proceeded to the palace 
of Abdallah Bey, one of the wealthiest persons of 
the city. His family is considered the most ancient 



TISIT TO THE PALACES. 



351 



and most noble in Syria, and, we were informed, 
had the Pashalik of Damascus for 300 years, Ab- 
dallah has declined office under the Egyptian Pasha,* 
and is now a private citizen. His palace, with the 
courts and gardens, occupies a large extent of 
ground ; but I will not fatigue the reader with de- 
tails. There are three or four distinct courts, like that 
of our own residence already described, but of course 
much larger., and in a style of far greater magnifi- 
cence. In this palace we counted eight fountains, 
several of them with jets. The Bey received us with 
great politeness, and showed us through the build- 
ings himself, after which we were entertained with 
coffee, and pipes and sherbet. A hint being here 
given by Mrs. F. that the strangers would be pleased 
if they could see the ladies' apartments, the old gen- 
tleman gave orders immediately to have them clear- 
ed of his women-folks ; and when this had been done, 
led us through the whole establishment. As we pro.- 
ceeded, a rustling and occasionally a titter behind 
the partitions or screens, seemed to indicate that the 
females were not far off, and were amusing them- 
selves with watching us while they themselves were 
unseen. This part of the palace is separated from 
the rest by a high wall, and consists of a court, with 
two large fountains surrounded by orange and lem- 
on trees and rose bushes, a garden ornamented also 
with two fountains and trees, and a range of apart- 

* Mohammed Ali got possession of Damascus without resists 
&nce_, in June. 1832, 



352 



SYRIA. 



ments surrounding the court. These apartments 
were more splendid than any others in the palace, 
the architectural finishing of the chambers being of 
the most delicate kind and in exquisite taste. One 
room, as we entered, presented a marble fountain in 
the centre, in which were seven jets; and looking 
through the shower of diamonds that broke from 
them, and fell with an unceasing murmur into the 
reservoir, we saw, at the further end of the chamber, 
a cascade of six or seven feet in height, the water 
of which was broken up, and fell amid sculptured 
marble cut into a variety of fanciful forms. 

In the gentleman's receiving rooms of the Damas- 
cus palaces is a curious ornament. A few feet below 
the ceiling is a broad cornice, supported by Saracenic 
sculptures running quite around the room; and 
ranged on this is an unbroken line of China bowls of 
the largest dimensions that it is possible to procure. 
The wealth of the individual is supposed to be indi- 
cated by the number and the size of these bowls. In 
one palace I counted near two hundred in a single 
room ; they are of the finest China, and are colored ; 
and in rooms where, as in these countries, the only 
furniture consists of carpets and ottomans, may as- 
sist in preventing the apartment from looking too 
naked; but I did not much admire the taste. Almost 
every family has some of these bowls ; there were 
several in our sleeping room at Mr. Farrah's, which 
we put to the desecrating use of wash-bowls. 

From this we proceeded to the palaces of Ali Aga 



VISIT TO THE GOVERNOR. 



353 



and Abdi El.Belzah Aga, which were also splendid, 
though smaller than that of Abdallah Bey. In one 
of them was a chamber not more than fourteen 
feet square, the finishing of the walls and ceiling of 
which had cost '7000 dollars, They were composed 
of mirrors in small compartments, and were further 
highly enriched with mother of pearl, gilding, and 
%vith arabesques and Saracenic mouldings in a great 
variety of forms. 

We finished with Mr. Farran's town-house or 
palace, for such it truly is; and where, to oriental 
splendor we found united English elegance and com- 
fort. The furniture from his own country was made 
io harmonize very well with the eastern architectu- 
ral taste. 

The Commodore in the morning had sent his tra- 
velling firman to the palace of Sheriff Pasha, the 
Governor of Syria ; and now, while the ladies pro- 
ceeded with Mrs. Farran to her country residence, 
he went with the officers to make an official visit t© 
that dignitary. Tire cavalcade, consisting of the 
Dragoman of the English embassy-, Cavasses, Mr. 
Farrah, and the American officers, had to traverse 
the whole length of the city, as the Governor's palace 
is on the south-western end. -Sheriff Pasha had 
been represented to us as a thorough Turk in his 
feelings and manners towards Christians ; butowing^ 
probably, to the firman, he met the party in the court 
of his palace, surrounded by his officers, and with a 

guard of honor. On being conducted to the audi- 

30* 



354 



SYRIA. 



ence hall, the party found that chairs had been pro- 
vided for their accommodation , and he even occu- 
pied a chair himself. The usual compliment of 
pipes, &c. was paid ; and while smoking, he pro- 
ceeded to inquire about our country, showing, as in- 
deed did most of the Egyptian officers wherever we 
visited, a knowledge of our institutions and resour- 
ces that we had not expected to find. He spoke of 
our late war and our successes on the ocean ; and ex- 
pressed a strong desire to see the Delaware, of which 
he said he had that morning received an account by 
letter. His curiosity, he said, would have carried 
him over to Beirout to visit the ship, if he had not 
been in daily expectation of the arrival of Ibrahim 
Pasha. After presenting Mr. Farrah to him as the 
agent of our government, and receiving assurances 
that on this recommendation he should be received 
without the usual formalities of writing to Alexan- 
dria, the Commodore expressed the satisfaction he 
felt in the protection and countenance that had been 
afforded by Mohammed Ali and the Governor to the 
American citizens resident in Syria. The Pasha 
replied, " That the citizens of all powers residing in 
the kingdom were entitled to protection — such were 
his orders, which it afforded him pleasure to fulfil, 
particularly towards the Americans, who had by 
their correct conduct and their efforts to do good, 
merited protection and favor ; and that so long as 
he continued in office they should be his peculiar 
care, and that he himself would be their consul ; n 



mr. farran's country-seat. 355 

he requested, " if we should hear of an American 
having suffered injustice or injury, or not having 
obtained justice for any injury or insult, that the 
Commodore would write to him, and charge him with 
neglect of his promise:" and added, "that, in short, 
he wanted to he himself American consul in Syria, 
and charge himself with the care and interests of all 
Americans, who were then, or might afterwards set- 
tle, in Syria, or make it a visit." The reader is left 
to deduct from all this whatever he may con- 
sider as belonging to the usual palavar of such oc- 
casions ; but, after all, Sheriff Pasha certainly acted 
and spoke in a very handsome manner. 

The party, after this interview, proceeded to Mr. 
Farran's country-seat, where we were engaged to 
dinner. This is a very beautiful spot. It is quite 
near the foot of the mountains, in a north-western 
direction from the city, from which it is about two 
miles distant. The house stands within a large 
enclosure, and has in front a court surrounded 
by immense walnut trees intermingled with the 
orange and lemon, overhanging a large fountain. 
Directly under the windows in the rear rushes 
the Barraday, here undivided, and a full rapid stream 
of the clearest water. The grounds around the 
dwelling are laid out in good taste, and are covered 
by an exuberance of foliage, some of the trees being 
of prodigious magnitude. 

The entertainment was in a style to correspond 
to all this ; and after such a busy day, good appetites 



356 



SYRIA. 



were not wanting to do it justice. It was, indeed, 
pleasant, away at Damascus, to meet with a hos- 
pitality so kind and agreeable, and society that 
beguiled the thoughts back to one's father-land : and 
the party were easily induced to remain till morn- 
ing. Beds, in these countries, are easily provided, 
the broad ottomans only requiring a few sheets in 
order to make them excellent places of repose ; and 
so they are generally used. 

The next day was appropriated to a lounge among 
the bazaars ; and we spent it agreeably, under the 
guidance of Mr. and Mrs. Farran, in looking at the 
great variety of oriental productions. I have always 
taken great pleasure in lounging in a Turkish ba- 
zaar ; and it struck me that these of Damascus, 
though perhaps less splendid, are more pleasing than 
even the great bazaars of Constantinople. One very 
pleasing characteristic of them is their great lofti- 
ness ; while those of the Turkish capital are low. 
The reader will imagine a street, or any succession 
of streets, or rather a labyrinth of streets, about fif- 
teen feet wide, and covered at the height of 'fifty or 
sixty feet by a wooden roof, generally tight, but 
sometimes allowing, through the interstices of the 
covering or of a huge spreading grape-vine, the sun- 
beams to fall in a gentle and chequered light. The 
sides of this street are composed entirely of shops, 
not very large, and quite open in front ; so that the 
passengers can easily distinguish every article upon 
the well-filled shelves. The floor of the shop is 



THE BAZAARS. 



357 



raised about three feet, and is carpeted ; and in the 
centre sits the lord of the little domain, ready for the 
call of customers, and in the intervals helping 
away the time by means of a book, or a pipe, or it 
may be by a nap. From the sides of partitions be- 
tween the stores bits of wood project into the street, 
and on these are hung specimens of the articles 
for sale, silks of various dye, handkerchiefs cov- 
ered with vines or with sprigs of gold embroidery ; 
towels ornamented at their ends in a similar showy 
manner; and cashmere shawls, rich enough to turn 
almost any brain, except, of course, those of the read- 
er and myself. Here, as in other oriental cities, the 
shops are not mixed up together in the manner usual 
with us ; but- streets, or parts of a street, are appro- 
priated to the sale of a particular article. One street 
has cobcobs ; another has slippers ; another jewelry; 
another arms ; another dry goods ; another drugs. 
We came to one lined with manufactories of cutle- 
ry, and at once scattered along it in search of some- 
thing that might be tortured into the boast of "a 
Damascus blade but all to little purpose. The 
gentlemen, seated cross-legged before their anvils, 
stared at our questions, and seemed now, for the first 
time, to become aware of the celebrity of their manu- 
factures : and the nearest approach that we could find 
to the articles of our search, were some huge, coarse 
knives, and a handjar or two. They had, however, 
the delicate waving lines of yellow and blue along the 
blade, which Was one of the characteristics of the 



358 



SYRIA. 



Damascus swords, and was occasioned by their being 
made of alternate pieces of iron and steel wire ; the 
former to give them toughness, the latter hardness 
and edge. 

Here and there, at the corners of streets, we came 
to fruit-stands, and in some of the well-filled baskets 
I noticed peaches, which I think were the largest 
that I have ever seen. 

The appearance of such a large party in the 
French dress seemed to rouse the people from their 
natural apathy, and the streets sometimes became so 
crowded as to be uncomfortable. We were, however, 
always treated with politeness, and found them 
ready to gratify our curiosity with regard to their 
wares : if we purchased, well : if not, well : the 
muscles of the dignified and composed features of 
the merchant were equally unmoved. 

We might have spent a much longer time very 
agreeably at Damascus, and were urged also to pro- 
ceed on to Palmyra ; but our time was limited ; and 
towards the close of the second day we bade adieu to 
the hospitable family of Mr. Farrah, by which we had 
been so kindly entertained. Oar faces were now 
turned towards Balbec, which was not far out of our 
way back to the ship ; and as Mr. Farran's house 
was on the road to that city, he had insisted on our 
coming out this evening and spending the night un- 
der his roof. 

Having filed out at the north-western end of the 
eity ; we came, soon after leaving it, to a large bury- 



MEMENTOES OF HOME. 



359 



ing-groundj where the graves, covered with solid 
masonry, which was plaistered and whitewashed^ 
showed a pleasing attention to the dead. The white- 
wash looked as if frequently renewed, and every part 
of the ground was clean and in good order. The 
appropriate Cyprus, however, was wanting ; nor was 
there any other tree, or even a shrub. Beyond this 7 
we entered among the gardens once more ; and were 
immediately surrounded by trees of venerable ap- 
pearance and majestic growth, and by cottages and 
country-houses, and gushing streams. In our own 
country, majestic forest trees and streams of all di- 
mensions are common things, and the reader may 
wonder at the enthusiasm which we felt when such 
objects were met with in our journeyings : our en- 
thusiasm was owing to two causes — the rarity of such 
things about the Mediterranean was one, and the 
other cause was the fact that they are common at 
our home : they brought home to our minds, more 
vividly perhaps than any other objects could have 
done ; and no one who has not made the experiment 
can tell how dear, at the end of a few years 7 absence, 
our father-land becomes. 

Alighted at Mr. Farran's, however, we could not 
feel that we were in a strange country. A pleasant 
evening succeeded an agreeable day, and when we 
stretched ourselves on our couches, the gurgling of 
water on either side of the house lulled us to 
repose. 



361) 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Sunrise on the plain of Damascus. Mountain Mosque. Super- 
stition of the natives of Damascus. Mountain course of the Bar- 
rady. Tomb of Abel. Fountain of Rosalyn. Toils of travel. 
Comforts on the road to Pompeii. Ruins of Balbec. The great 
Temple and its courts . Stones of prodigious size. A gem in Ar- 
chitecture. The circular Temple. Gleanings with regard to 
their history. Pasha of Balbec. Marshal Bourmont. Cedars 
of Lebanon. Town of Zahle. Night in our tents on Lebanon. 
Attack by the natives. Return to the ship. 

Early dawn on the 6th of September found us 
prepared for our journey. We took an early break- 
fast, and then, accompanied by our kind host and his 
lady, began to wind up the steep ascents that lie just 
back of his house. The scene was strikingly orien- 
tal. Two negro lads, attendants of Mr. Far ran, 
dressed in the gay and fanciful costume of this region, 
and mounted on spirited animals, were amusing 
themselves with making their horses fly at full speed 
up the precipices, and with darting to and fro across 
our path. The air was perfumed with the odors of 
the orange and jessamine: the gardens had been 
steeped in dew, and seemed to welcome the god of 
day, which now rising on the edge of the boundless 
plain, filled it all with glory, and hung the mountain 
sides with splendid purple and roseate hues. 



SUPERSTITIONS OF THE NATIVES. 361 

At the summit of the eminence, we passed a little 
out of our way, to examine a religious edifice of the 
Moslems, erected, I think, on the spot where Ma- 
homet is said to have alighted to take once more a 
look at Damascus, while on his way to heaven. In 
the estimation of Mahommedans, Mecca is first in 
sanctity : next is Jerusalem ; and next is Damas- 
cus, which they call the Prophet's Heel : the plain 
adjoining this city is the rendezvous for the great 
northern caravan of pilgrims for Mecca, and in the 
gains which the citizens draw from this source, to- 
gether with the fresh and ardent zeal which the pil- 
grims bring with them and diffuse around, we may 
find the cause of the proverbial fanaticism of this 
city. 

I saw a curious specimen of their superstitions 
the second day of our visit, while I was traversing 
one of the principal bazaars. The street had been 
well filled, but it suddenly became thronged ; and 
turning to see the cause of this, I found a party of 
them leading a horse, on which was seated a young 
man, without any clothing, looking around him 
with a wild and vacant stare. He was an idiot, 
and was regarded by them as a saint; and they 
were leading him about to receive the homage of the 
people. As he passed slowly along, all treated him 
with the highest respect. 

At the Mountain Mosque we took leave of Mr. and 
Mrs. Farran, with many sincere thanks for their 
kindness ; and then set ourselves adrift once more 

31 



362 



SYRIA, 



on the broad range of Anti-Libanus : the relative of 
our Armenian host, however, still keeping us com- 
pany and acting as a guide Our road was consi- 
derably to the northward of the one by which we had 
come to Damascus ; and followed up the course of 
the Barraday, which here, far down in a narrow glen, 
was spluttering impatiently among the rocks. At 
intervals the precipices receded from its banks, and 
left a level spot, which was always occupied by cot- 
tages and trees. This route across the mountain 
was, indeed, in fertility and beauty, the very reverse 
of the one by which we had come ; and our ride was 
far more pleasant than we had anticipated. At the 
distance of five or six miles from Damascus we came 
to the green valley which had attracted our atten- 
tion a few days before, and we found here a large 
village quite imbedded in verdure. By noon the 
river had lost three fourths of its magnitude ; but it 
still kept up a streak of verdure and of profitable cul- 
tivation amid the mountain solitudes. 

The route which we were following no doubt 
passes over the ground occupied by the ancient high- 
way from Damascus to Balbec, and must have been 
once much travelled. We passed, about noon, along 
the sides of a romantic and deep ravine, where 
the road had been cut with great labour among the 
rocks of calcareous tufa ; and here we had for our 
contemplation and antiquarian speculations an an- 
cient aqueduct, carried among and sometimes 
through the precipitous rocks. In the face of the op- 



TOMB OF ABEL. 



353 



posing cliffs were a great many openings to artifi- 
cial subterranean chambers, probably in old times 
the dwellings of anchorites, to whose taste the wild 
and desolate grandeur of the place must have been 
well adapted. After passing several villages during 
the day, we came, after dark, to another at the side 
of a large and beautiful fountain ; and here, amid the 
barking of dogs and the jabbering of the wondering 
natives, we stopped and pitched our tents under 
some venerable looking olive trees. The reader 
may form some idea of the security which we felt 
in these exposed encampments, when I mention that 
we never set a guard, or took any particular precau- 
tion with regard to our baggage ; nor was a single 
article ever stolen. 

About eight o'clock of the next day, we passed, 
among an amphitheatre of hills, the head waters of 
the Farrady, which here bursts into daylight amid a 
little paradise of verdure ; thence our course was 
generally over high and barren ridges, deserted by 
the very insects. As we approached once more the 
plain of Coelo-Syria, we reached another stream, and 
soon after this we passed on our left the Tomb of 
Abel ! ! still in good repair. As such, at least, is 
regarded, both by Musselmen and Christians, a grave- 
shaped mound of earth, 113 feet in length. Near it 
are two pillars, on which Abel is said to have pre- 
sented his offerings ; and they tell us that yearly, in 
the month of December, fire descends from heaven 
and rests on their summit. " As I did not see this," 



364 



SYRIA. 



says El Devoto Perigrino, " and it is told me by 
Christians who are not very scrupulous, I have not 
given it much credit. 5 ' 

Proceeding on, again over bare and desolate ridges, 
we came, at 1 P.M. to where a gorge in the mountain 
obstructed our path, and casting our eyes to the left^ 
we saw, just beyond its outlet in the plain of Coelo- 
Syria, a profusion of majestic ruins. 

These were the temples of Balbec. 

At the head of the little valley at our feet we saw 
also a fountain, so large and clear, and cool-looking,, 
that it immediately acted as a magnet, and we deter- 
mined to be the companions of the Naiads during our 
visit here. So our tents were pitched beneath some 
fine spreading trees, on a green island formed by 
the branching of the waters, a few yards from the 
fountain. 

This fountain, called Rosalyn by the natives, is 
about fifty feet in diameter, and lies embosomed among 
gently sloping hills, the only opening being on the 
west of it, where the eye rests on the ruins of Bal- 
bec, and beyond them, on the snowy summits of Le- 
banon. Towards one side of it is a small island^ 
on which, and also on the main land adjoining, are 
ruins, apparently of an ancient temple ; but at pre- 
sent it is impossible to determine their character. 

Having pitched our tents, and disposed our bag- 
gage, and cooled our feverish faces in the stream, 
we prepared— to visit the ruins ? no, but to take a 
nap. And there was good philosophy in this ; for he 



TOILS OF TRAVEL. 



365 



who, after a long journey to see an interesting object, 
rushes up with eyes full of dust and faculties all ja- 
ded, does injustice to it, and gets but a modicum of 
satisfaction himself. If he would enjoy it to the full, 
let him first get a comfortable meal and then a little 
repose : the world, and every thing in it, will then be 
quite a different affair. If the reader's journeying 
has been altogether in fancy or in books, he can 
have no idea how much the traveller's pleasures are 
curtailed by these every day wants and feelings ; and 
how often, when he expected to be in raptures, they 
keep him in incessant torments. "How magnifi- 
cent are those ruins," says enthusiasm to him : "yes, 
but how burning hot this sun," says his poor, red, 
scaly face : " why don't you break out into rapturous 
exclamations at this splendid colonnade?" cry up- 
braidingly, reason, and taste and fancy, all combined. 
" Why, I can't," he groans pettishly ; " don't you see 
my mouth is parched up with thirst, and my tongue 
is as dry as if it belonged to a mummy." " Come, 
come, look," exclaims his guide; "here, this way is 
something truly wonderful !" " What ! away there," 
he answers ; "why I am already almost inanimate 
from fatigue, my feet are blistered, and that roll down 
yonder precipice has left me in the state of a mere 
jelly." 

The reader has doubtless often thought that he 
would like to walk the streets of the disentombed 
Pompeii, and has been in raptures as he imagined him- 
self amid its remains, Yes, but let him first imagine 

31* 



366 



SYRIA. 



himself on the way to it; for travelling does not give 
one the power of the magic Arabian lamp. Well, let us 
suppose him making the experiment of getting there. 
In the first place, if he does not desire the comfort of 
being cheated out of four times the honest price for the 
conveyance, he has to bargain at Naples— no, that is 
not the word — he has to get angry, and scold and 
quarrel, or at least to go through the appearance of 
all this, about his carriage ; also about the fare to 
him who drives, and to him who rides behind ; and 
perhaps about the price of the horses' feed. You start 
at length ; and, except that in the thronged road one 
is in constant dread of jolts or an upset, all goes on 
well for a little while ; but the beggars, — here they 
come : they mark the foreigner at a distance, and are 
really such pitiful objects that one's heart bleeds for 
them. The way up hill is occupied by the aged, or 
by cripples, or by the blind with a boy to lead them : 
the level spots by the more robust : and the descent 
by children, who start from the side of their haggard 
parents, and cry " miseracordia, famine, sickness," 
till your ears tingle, and your fancy is filled with 
all kinds of diseases and their associations. And the 
dust, the dust ! you are now off from the paved 
streets of Resina, and a hundred vehicles besides 
your own are kicking up dust enough to satisfy the 
ambition of twenty Napoleons : it settles on your 
new coat, and fills your eyes, and sets you to sneez- 
ing ; and still amid it all you hear the cry of " misera- 
cordia," "orphans," "famine," "disease." Next comes 



SIGHTS BY THE WAY SIDE. 



367 



a long level spot, and here the beggars leave you ; and 
now start up a dozen urchins, who seem so many 
Mercuries with winged feet, so rapidly do they fol- 
low your godship as you sail along in the cloud — of 
dust. They would pick your pockets, too, if they 
could. And now look at them ; they turn heels over 
head, and making a wheel of their extended arms 
and legs, whirl along by your side : they make music 
for you by chuckling their chin with the fist ; they 
pick up the dust, and, rubbing it all over their faces, 
then grin and wriggle, and look like so many imps 
escaped up from the flames of Vesuvius : and you 
try in vain to bribe them to stay behind by tossing 
them some money. They pick it up, and follow you 
for more. At last you are at the gate of Pompeii, 
and your carriage comes to a halt ; but here, child- 
ren, with all kinds of deformed limbs, crawl about, 
and dragging themselves to your feet, call upon you 
for compassion. And while you yield to pity and 
think you are doing a charitable act, you are filled 
with horror on being informed that, in the opinion of 
physicians who have examined them, their limbs 
have probably been distorted thus on purpose, in or- 
der to make them objects of charity; and that you 
have been only encouraging their inhuman masters 
in their iniquitous gains. But at length you are in 
the city, and you hope now to be at peace. No. 
You are accompanied all through it by a soldier, who 
tells you plainly, by his looks and by his manner of 
watching you ; that he believes you only want an 



368 



SYRIA. 



opportunity to turn thief and steal some of the relics ; 
and he expects too to be paid for his strict attentions* 
And you will find a dozen official showmen there, 
expecting to be paid, and they would not be satisfied 
if you were to spend a fortune in presents to them, 
And no matter how liberal you may have been, 
when you go away you leave behind you faces, look- 
ing at least, as if they thought you mean. The 
rogues ! how indignant you feel at them ! And this 
is the strongest feeling which you carry away with 
you, and it ever afterwards is associated in your 
mind with Pompeii. 

Yes, this is a plain- account of a visit to Pompeii. 
How greatly obliged, then, are the public, to those 
writers who enable them to travel without the vexa- 
tions of travel ; and to grow sentimental or to 
grow wise, without growing — hungry ; for I will war- 
rant to every man by the time he gets from Pompeii 
to Naples, not only a good covering of dust, but a 
famous appetite. 

And yet, I suppose the reader is scolding because 
I have not already set him down quietly among the 
ruins of Balbec, forgetting that we ourselves had yet 
a walk of two miles through the hot sun before we 
could reach them. 

These' ruins of Balbec, which stand here without 
a history and without a name, are indeed worthy of 
all the admiration that has been bestowed upon 
them. They are at one side of the present village 
or town of Balbec, a miserable place of a few hun* 



TEMPLES OF BALBEC. 



369 



dred hovels, and in no wise diverting the attention 
from them as we approach : its squalid appearance, 
perhaps, heightens their effect. They rise high 
above all other objects, so as to be conspicuous at a 
great distance; and as we approach, our wonder and 
admiration are mingled with sadness to think that 
such magnificent edifices should have been so muti- 
lated by the hand of violence and of time ; and yet 
this sadness increases our interest in them. 

Our attention was first directed to the most per- 
fect of the temples ; but, as we entered at the wrong 
end of the structures, and soon got our ideas confused 
amid the masses of ruins, I believe the reader would 
rather be excused from accompanying us ; so I will 
first state their appearance in ancient times, when 
there was great regularity and symmetry in them, 
and then describe them as they are at present. 

They stood, then, on an artificial platform of 
stone, raised on the plain of Coelo-Syria to a height 
varying, according to the inequalities of the plain, 
from thirty to forty feet. This was about half a 
mile from the chain of Anti-Libanus. The platform 
was adapted in shape to the structures upon it, the 
complete length being 900 feet and the greatest 
width about 420. The entrance was from the east. 
At that end was a flight of about fifty steps, 180 feet 
in length : at the top of this was a range of twelve 
columns, each fifty-one inches in diameter, with an 
interval of nine and a half feet between. The visitor 
was admitted between them into a covered vestibule^ 



370 



SYRIA. 



250 feet in length by 36 in width ; this was adorned 
at the extremities with square columns, while the 
side opposite to him was ornamented with semi- 
columns, and also with niches, and, above these, 
with tabernacles; both the latter being occupied by- 
statues. Crossing this vestibule, he might leave it 
either by a large central passage or by a smaller one 
at each side of this, and would then find himself in 
an open hexagonal court, 150 feet wide and 200 at 
its greatest length. This court had at its sides, on 
his right and left, four exedrae, or chambers for 
schools, open in front, and ornamented each with 
four columns and pilasters : the intervals between 
these were taken up with chambers for the high 
priests and with niches for statues. The whole court 
was thus surrounded by columns and pilasters, ex- 
cept in the front. In this part was a passage 78 
feet wide, with two side passages, giving admittance 
into the great court of the temple. This court 
was 380 feet square, and, except in the front and at 
the entrance, was surrounded by square exedrae, 
alternating with others of a semi-circular shape : the 
former had each four columns and two pilasters, and 
the latter two columns with pilasters at their front. 
At the entrance into this court were colossal niches^ 
and at the angles were chambers for the priests. 

The great temple, which stood at the further 
end of this court, and facing the visitor as he entered, 
was 290 feet long by 160 in width. It had ten 
columns at each end, and nineteen at each of the 



STONES OF VAST DIMENSIONS. 



371 



sides ;* they .were seven feet in diameter, and the 
details of the whole edifice were of the same colos- 
sal proportions : they allowed eight feet ten inches 
for the intervals between the columns. There 
are still remaining three rows of stones, sup- 
porting the platform on which this temple stands, 
which are of remarkable dimensions. In the lowest 
tier they measure severally 35, 33, 32, 31, and 38 
feet in length ; with a height of thirteen feet and a 
breadth of ten feet five inches, exclusive of their 
mouldings. In the second row, which is twenty- 
seven feet from the ground, they are generally of the 
same size, but here are three measuring 64, 64, and 
63 feet in length, with their other dimensions to 
correspond. In the quarry on the side of the moun- 
tain adjoining this, is a stone cut loose, that measures 
seventy feet in length by fourteen in width, and 
fourteen feet five inches in depth : the weight of 
this is estimated at 1,135 tons. 

Of this colossal temple, nine of the columns of 
one side, with a portion of their entablature, are all 
that now remains : its foundations may still be 
traced, and a few huge fragments are scattered 
about ; but if it was ever completed, it has served as 
a quarry for more modern structures, perhaps for 
some that were erected by Constantine, for its area 
and the environs are pretty well cleared : but the 
great columns, standing thus naked and alone, pro- 

* Or was intended to have, for it is doubtful whether this temple 
was ever finished. 



372 



SYRIA. 



duce a very powerful effect. Of the ranges of exe- 
drae, columns, &c, which formed the sides of the 
square and hexagonal courts, and of the vestibule, 
there are still large remains ; but so broken and de- 
faced by time and human violence, that it is often 
difficult to ascertain their shape or proportions. The 
ground is covered over with their ruins. In one 
corner of the square court are some large columns 
of the red Egyptian granite : they are of peculiar 
beauty, and though they have been exposed to the 
weather for so many centuries, their polish has 
scarcely been at all affected. 

It is sad to walk over this great platform and 
mark the desolations that have been wrought amid 
such architectural beauty. A few yards, however, 
from this is a temple of the same age, still almost 
perfect, and probably the most splendid specimen of 
the Corinthian order of architecture that the world 
now can boast. It stands also on a platform of 
stone, and was reached by a stair- way of thirty-two 
steps : it is about twenty -five feet from the south- 
west angle of the great court just described, and also 
faces the east. It is peripteral ; that is, with a range 
of columns quite around, and has also another range 
at the front, forming a vestibule : the length is 280 
feet, the breadth 122. There were fifteen columns on 
each side and eight in front (the angular columns 
counted twice), or forty-two in all ; to which we are 
to add eight for the vestibule, six in front and one 
at each side. Of these, thirty-three are now entire 



A GEM IN ARCHITECTURE. 3X3 

and erect, and nine in a ruinous condition ; the 
eight front columns are missing, but those of the 
vestibule remain. The sides of the interior were 
also ornamented with half columns, six on each 
side ; between these were niches for statues, with 
ornamented lacunari (arched coverings), and above 
the niches were tabernacles, also for statues. The 
further end was occupied by a platform, reached by 
a broad flight of fifteen steps, and on this was placed 
the statue of their divinity. The interior is also in 
tolerably good preservation. This temple belongs 
to the florid age of architecture ; its ornaments are 
exuberant and exceedingly rich ; the doorway is 
decorated with vines and foliage, amid which chil- 
dren are sporting; the pannels of the ceiling are 
occupied by figures of gods and goddesses in relief ; 
in short, Sculpture has here joined her graver sister 
Architecture, and they have worked together har- 
moniously, and have produced — what is very sel- 
dom produced — a building where great exuberance 
of ornament is united with delicacy, and chaste- 
ness, and simplicity. This building is, indeed, a 
gem in the art. 

South-eastward from these, at the distance of 
about 300 yards, is a pretty little thing, though of 
more objectionable taste. It is a temple, circular 
within, the diameter being thirty-two feet. It is 
on an ornamented platform or substructure, and the 
floor was reached by a flight of about fifteen steps ; 
the front presents this flight of steps and a large 

32 



374 



SYRIA. 



door-way, with two Corinthian columns at each 
side. The rest of the exterior is formed by a 
succession of great niches for statues, five in 
number, with a Corinthian column at the sharp an- 
gles between them. The exterior diameter of the 
building, from column to column, is sixty-four feet. 
The interior is highly ornamented, and has a double 
range of semi-columns one above the other, one range 
Ionic, the other Corinthian. This little temple an- 
swers very well by way of variety, and for employ- 
ing the power of contrast ; and is placed just at the 
proper distance from the other colossal structures to 
make the effect very good. Winding around its 
foundations, and murmuring amid its broken, pros- 
trate columns, is the clear brook from the fountain 
of Rosalyn. As we listened to the sound of its wa- 
ters, we could almost imagine it to be the voice of pure 
and holy Nature chanting the dirge of the unhal- 
lowed worship that once was prevalent here. 

It is very strange that, in order to learn the origin 
and design of these splendid structures we are com- 
pelled to turn over a variety of ancient books ; and 
that, after all, the information we glean is sufficient 
only to tantalize, and not to satisfy our curiosity. Its 
whole amount, I believe to be as follows: 

Macrobius informs us that 

" In the city called Heliopolis* the Assyrians worship the Sun 
with great pomp, under the name of Heliopolitan Jove ; and the 

* " City of the Sun"— the Greek name of Balbec. Balbec is Sy- 
riac, and means the Vale of Baal. Balbeit signifies the House of 
Baal. 



ORIGIN OP THESE TEMPLES. 



375 



statue of this god was brought from a city in Egypt, also called He- 
liopolis, when Senemur or Senepos reigned over the Egyptians, by 
Opias, ambassador of Delebon. king of the Assyrians, together with 
some Egyptian priests, of whom Partemetis was the chief; and it re- 
mained long among the Assyrians before it was removed to Helio- 
polis. * * The statue is of gold, representing a person without 
a beard, who holds in his right hand a whip, charioteer-like, and in 
his left a thunderbolt, together with ears of corn ; all which mark 
the united powers of Jupiter and the Sun." 

From this he infers that the divinity was both Ju- 
piter and the Sun : he adds that the temple excelled 
in divination, and that Trajan consulted it about his 
Parthian expedition. Macrob. Saternalia, lib. 1. 

Lucian, who was a native of Syria, speaks of a 
great and ancient temple in Phoenicia, the rites of 
whose worship were brought from Heliopolis in 
Egypt ; and adds, that " many persons assert that this 
temple was erected by Deucalion, the Scythian ; that 
Deucalion, in whose days the grand inundation of 
waters took place." 

All this refers to this spot and to the origin of 
these temples, but not to these temples themselves : 
the structure to which Lucian refers being evidently 
of more ancient date. The first clear and authentic 
information which we have of the edifices now stand- 
ing, are in John of Antioch, surnamed Malala ; who 
says, that Aurelius Antoninus Pius erected a great 
temple to Jupiter at Heliopolis, near Libanus in 
Phoenicia, which was one of the wonders of the 
world. 

The Chronicon Paschale informs us, that Theo- 



376 



SYRIA. 



dosius converted the great and famous temple of He- 
liopolis into a Christian church.* 

The florid architecture of these edifices corresponds 
exactly to the times of the Antonines : and I think 
we are at liberty to infer, from what we can gather 
on this subject, that there was here, in very ancient 
times, a famous temple, containing the statue of Ju- 
piter Igneous, if I may use the term ; and that its 
celebrity led the first of the Antonines, who distin- 
guished himself by building up decaying cities, to 
erect these vast and beautiful structures. Close ad- 
joining them on the south, is a dark, heavy, and an- 
cient looking building, without windows, and com- 
posed of stones, pannelled like those which I saw at 
the foot of Mount Moriah ; and this may, perhaps, 
be the original temple noticed by Lucian. 

The modern Balbec contains about 200 houses. 
It is protected by a low wall, but not more than half 
the enclosure is occupied by the dwellings, which 
are small and miserable looking hovels. As we were 
leaving the ruins in the evening, we received an in- 
vitation from the Pasha to make him a visit, which 
the lateness of the hour led us to decline. But his 
house was adjoining our road back to the fountain ; 
and on approaching it, we found the gates wide open, 
and a train of attendants marshalled for our recep- 
tion ; so there was no help for us, and our party en- 
tering, filled his little hall of audience. He seemed 



* Vide " The Ruins of Balbec," by Robert Wood. 



CEDARS OF LEBANON. 



disposed to ' be sociable, and regaled us with pipes, 
coffee, and apples; and we regretted that our time 
would not permit a longer visit. 

It was now dark, and on leaving his house we 
found that he had had the politeness to have torches 
provided for us. They consisted of bits of pine, piled 
up in small baskets made of iron hoops, and elevated 
at the end of a long pole. As we wound around or 
over the undulations of the valley, the effect of the 
broad lights and shadows, the dancing waters in the 
pebbly brook by our side, and the oriental costume 
of the natives, numbers of whom were accompany- 
ing us, was very fine. 

During the day some other travellers, in the na- 
tive costume, stopped for an hour or two by our 
fountain. We had no conversation, with them, but 
were afterwards informed that they were probably 
the French Marshal Bourmont and some friends, 
travelling in disguise. 

September 6. We stopped again, an hour or two, 
at the ruins, and then commenced re-crossing the 
plain of Coelo-Syria, directing our course transvers- 
ly so as to strike our former route over Mount Le- 
banon. Had our time permitted, we should have 
visited the cedars of Lebanon, which are about half 
way between Balbec and Tripoli ; but as the autumn 
was advancing, and the Commodore was anxious to 
get away from this unknown coast, the project was 
relinquished. Mr. Chassaud was good enough, how- 
ever, afterwards to procure some of the wood for us, and 

32* 



378 



SYRIA. 



to forward it by way of Marseilles to our wintering 
station at Mahon. I have had my portion of it cut in- 
to veneers, which are greatly admired by cabinet 
makers j both for the color and odour of the wood ; 
the interior of the block is of a golden yellow color, 
and some portions, which are sprinkled over with 
small black specks or knots, are very beautiful. The 
number of the old trees has been gradually dimi- 
nishing since the mountain first began to be visited 
by travellers, and but seven or eight are now remain- 
ing. The largest of these are ninety feet in height, 
and they have in one or two cases a circumference 
of forty feet ; which, however, like that of the great 
chesnut on Mount Etna, is not the circuit of a single 
tree, but of the generation that has grown around 
the original trunk. The natives have an annual 
religious festival beneath these venerable fathers of 
the forest. There are groves of a younger growth 
around these, containing altogether about 400 trees. 
A fine large tree of this species may be seen in the 
garden of plants at Paris; and in Mr. Prince's gar- 
den at Flushing is a young one also, in a flourishing 
condition. 

About half way across the plain, we came to an- 
other large fountain, and smaller ones occurred at 
intervals ; but the ride was wearisome enough : in 
the whole distance we passed not a house, nor a tree, 
nor a speck of cultivation ; a withering and blight- 
ing influence has been for ages upon all this region. 
About three o'clock, we reached the village of Zahle* 



FIGHT WITH THE NATIVES. 



379 



at the foot of Lebanon. It has rather a modern ap- 
pearance, having grown up lately in consequence of 
some violence and exactions on the other side of the 
plain, from which the inhabitants have taken refuge 
under the wing of the princes of Lebanon. It is 
quite refreshing to an American traveller to see a 
modern town, and this of Zahle is also particularly 
pleasing from its situation. It is built on unequal, 
broken ground, and is bordered on one side by a 
deep, shaded ravine, along the bottom of which 
dashes a torrent, singing and making melody in its 
joyful course. We found near its banks a convenient 
spot for satisfying our now ravenous appetites, and 
then, although we had no ruins to inspect after- 
wards, we again sought the reviving effects of a nap. 

And well it was for us that we did so, for we were 
destined on the following night to have no repose. 
Having travelled on from Zahle in the coolness of 
the evening, we came at dusk to our breakfasting 
place of the 2d., and here determined to pitch our 
tents. But that was to be a night of fighting and 
not of sleep. 

There is a set of natives on this mountain, the 
most thievish beings in all the country, with the re- 
putation also of being blood-thirsty and merciless, 
and waiting to pounce upon every unprotected tra- 
veller that may come in their way. They are a small 
race, but are said to be numerous ; and the traveller 
across these mountains must be on his guard, or he 
will be very apt to be plundered by them. They 



380 



SYRIA. 



carry a concealed dagger, with which they are very 
expert, and which they do not hesitate to use when 
there is occasion for it. They are cowardly, and sel- 
dom make their attacks except in covert places or 
by night: and their cunning and malevolence are 
said to be equal to their cowardice. We had met 
them occasionally, and had generally been on our 
guard : but there seemed to be no particular danger 
this night, and we took no unusual precautions. 

But they were lying here in ambush ; and we had 
scarcely blown out our lights, and wrapped our- 
selves in our blankets for repose, when they made a 
sudden attack — how many there were, we could not 
tell in the darkness, but their number must have 
been very great. We sprung up, and seizing such 
weapons as were handiest, repelled our assailants, 
and forced them to a speedy retreat ; but not before 
several wounds had been given and received. I 
think it probable that some of the enemy were killed. 
And now we sat down to consult upon the best mode 
of preventing another attack. Some advised shift- 
ing our encampment ; some concluded to sit up ; and 
others, amid the confusion of counsel, again yielded 
to drowsiness, and tried once more to seek repose. 
But hope of repose was vain : we carried on a skir- 
mishing with them all night, and, notwithstanding 
our resistance, many of the enemy in the dark suc- 
ceeded in carrying off the plunder, which was 
their object. 

I should certainly caution all travellers over Mount 



RETURN TO THE SHIP. 



381 



Lebanon against pitching their tents, as we had done, 
in an old stubble field swarming with fleas. 

As may be supposed, we made an early start on 
the morrow. Our journey back offered nothing 
new, and after stopping to pay our respects to Mr. 
and Mrs. Smith, and to thank them for their kind- 
ness, we picked our way down the mountain, and 
towards evening took up, once more, our quarters 
in the Delaware. 



382 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Sensation produced by the Delaware. Effect of this visit on the 
cause of Missions in Syria. Service on the Sabbath on board, 
and the crowds attending. Crowds attracted by this ship during 
her whole cruise. Appearance of the ship. Her effect on the 
visitors. Progress of free principles throughout the world. The 
cause of humanity secure. Our own Country, and its prosperity. 
Adieu to the reader. 

We found, that during our absence the ship, hav- 
ing taken in water, had changed her anchorage, 
and was now lying abreast of the city, and but a 
short distance off. A vessel of her class had never 
appeared along this part of the coast before ; and 
on her arrival she immediately began to attract ob- 
servation. A few of the citizens visited her, and 
found no difficulty in getting admittance on board : 
they carried news of this to the shore ; other visitors 
came ; her fame soon spread far and wide ; and in 
a short time she was all the rage. Mr. Chassaud's 
house was thronged by applicants for tickets of ad- 
mission (the impression having gone abroad that 
they were useful), and the street to it was so crowded, 
that it was often difficult to get along. He com- 
puted the number who visited the ship here at 
40,000 ; but, although this was perhaps above the 
reality, it was still prodigious. Some persons came 



CROWDS ATTRACTED BY THE DELAWARE. 383 

two days' journey simply for this purpose ; and the 
city was thronged to such a degree, that provisions 
rose to double their former price. They came, old 
men, women and children, Druses and Mahomme- 
dans, princes and laborers : all seemed to be seized 
by the mania ; and, until the day of our leaving 
(the 11th of September), there was a constant throng 
from early in the morning till dusk. Such a sen- 
sation had probably never been produced here before 
by any object of curiosity. 

I believe our visit has been beneficial to the in- 
teresting mission at this place. Mr. Bird, at my re- 
quest, preached on board on the first Sunday of our 
stay here, and Mr. Smith on the second ; and 
during the latter service, the visitors from shore 
were suffered to be present. Generally, visiting was 
not permitted on the Sabbath till public worship 
had been concluded ; but on this occasion they were 
admitted, and allowed to stay ; and when the crew 
were called up to worship, they came up also to 
witness the services. Our upper deck has a clear 
sweep of 225 feet in length : the whole is covered 
by an awning, elevated twelve or fifteen feet, with 
side pieces of canvass reaching down to the ham- 
mock-cloths, and thus forming a complete chamber. 
The poop-deck, on this occasion, is occupied chiefly 
by the band in their uniform : the officers stand by 
the capstan, and from this aft, on the starboard side : 
the larboard side is occupied, in front, by the ship's 
boys, with prayer-books ; then by the marines in 



384 



SYRIA. 



full uniform; and, back of these, by the seamen, who 
also stretch along by the mainmast on either side. 
All are in their " first best" clothes; and our ship on 
these occasions presents an air of thorough cleanli- 
ness and neatness which, I do not hesitate to say, I 
have never yet seen a church on shore present. 
Mr. Smith's discourse was suited to the occasion, 
and was listened to by officers and seamen with 
deep interest ; and I have no doubt that the scene 
made an impression on the minds of the mountain- 
eers which will materially advance the success of the 
mission. 

Probably no ship has ever floated on the water 
that has attracted so much attention, or drawn so 
many visitors, as the Delaware during this cruise. 
The number of visitors, I think, may be safely esti- 
mated at about 200,000. At Naples, at Palermo, 
and at this place particularly, there was a constant 
throng from morning till night. No one was denied 
admittance ; they were allowed to go freely through 
the ship, and, when the Commodore or Captain were 
absent, were admitted also into their cabins. At 
Naples the visitors were from all parts of Europe, a 
very large portion of them being from the interior 
of Germany. They saw a vessel, not only effective 
as regards her battery, but every where showing a 
neatness and a completeness of finish that must 
have astonished them. This ship, like some others 
of our seventy-four's, has a deceptive appearance at 
a distance, seeming to be smaller than she is, and 



APPEARANCE OF THE SHIP. 385 

less effective. When they got on board, they found 
a battery of ninety -four guns, the greater portion of 
them of the largest calibre ; the decks high and wide, 
and in every part scrupulously clean ; and a suffi- 
cient attention to ornament, which was all, however, 
made subservient to the main design of efficiency. 
She is a very powerful ship, and so she appeared on 
inspection ; and was also a very handsome vessel. 
The most perfect order also prevailed in every part. 
The impression which she gave must have been a 
favorable one ; and I believe that the Delaware, in 
this cruise, did more towards advancing the rights 
of man, than if she had come home with a dozen 
captures of bulk and power equal to her own. 
Around the world the voice of freedom and of 
humanity is beginning to make itself heard. In 
many places it is only a still small voice, but it is 
yet heard ; and though people often scarcely know 
what it means, yet there is a feeling in their breasts 
that more or less responds, and tells them that what 
it says is the truth. They have heard, too, that 
there is a republic somewhere, in a distant land, — 
a country of free principles and equal rights. They 
cannot tell how the system operates ; but this sys- 
tem, as far as they know it, is a beautiful one, and 
they would like greatly to know more of it. A ship 
comes among them from that far country, and their 
vague floating visions now take a more substantial 
form. It is a vessel bearing signs of wealth and 
power, marked by good order and efficiency: the 

33 



386 



SYRIA. 



country that has sent out this ship must be wealthy 
and prosperous, enterprising and successful. This 
is the lesson which is taught by all our ships 
wherever they go ; and taught in a manner that is 
intelligible to the lowest capacity. 

And to this noble and glorious cause of humanity 
we bid prosperity and success. Yes, — may Heaven 
sustain and bless it ! I am not a politician, but I 
hope I am a philanthropist ; and, next to religion, I 
love my country and its institutions, for I believe 
that in them is the regenerating principle that is 
going to awaken and vivify the world. These 
plains that we have just been passing over, abound- 
ing in a rich soil and under a prolific sky, why are 
they not cultivated? But they ivill be cultivated, 
and this people here will be intelligent and intellec- 
tual : the mind will rouse up, and claim its high 
pre-eminence ; woman will be elevated to her proper 
lofty sphere ; brute force will yield to moral power ; 
and smiling plenty, and security, and happiness, will 
prevail ; and from our country will come the power 
that is to effect this mighty change. 

It is good sometimes to get far off from our land, 
so that, as from an elevated spot, we may look over 
the whole country; and, away from the influence of 
local prejudice, and interest, and alarms, may scruti- 
nize our institutions and examine into their perma- 
nency, and see what strengthening and what coun- 
teracting influences are at work to promise them 
security. For myself, I have no fear for them. 



OUR OWN COUNTRY. 



387 



They are built on knowledge ; and, till we can 
destroy for ever our printing presses, and can roll 
back the age of ignorance, they are safe : they may 
change their forms, but the substance will remain ; 
and always, and in every form, will liberty and 
humanity be secure. 

It is good also, sometimes to get away, and to be 
able to compare our own country with others, and 
be able thus to calculate the amount of prosperity 
and happiness which we enjoy. In the clashings 
of enterprise and rivalship among us, angry feelings 
sometimes will arise. Europe is disgorging upon our 
land the inmates of her prisons, and there will be 
crime : the poor, the ignorant, and the oppressed of 
her population find refuge here, and abundance ; and 5 
in the wild joy at their newly-acquired comforts and 
their freedom, they may run into riots and disorders ; 
but nowhere in the world is so much virtue to be 
found as amid our population ; and virtue is happiness. 
We are a nation but of yesterday; and our rail- 
roads, and canals, and steam-boats, and commerce, 
are already a subject of astonishment ; and what 
will they be a few years hence? — and a century 
after that ? — and why may not the whole world be 
like it ? There is nothing, surely, to prevent this, 
except Ignorance, and its twin-sister, Vice ; but 
knowledge, and with it virtue, are gone forth con- 
quering and to conquer, and their triumph will be 
complete. It is a glorious thing to live in such 
an age as this. 



388 



SYRIA. 



And now, reader, I turn and offer you my hand, 
for the time when our companionship must cease has 
at length arrived. I hope that we have been friends 
during these journeyings, and that we part in kind- 
ness. May Heaven bless you ! Adieu ! 



THE END. 




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